Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

History General

Loyal Till Death

Indians and the North-West Rebellion

by (author) Bill Waiser & Blair Stonechild

Publisher
Fifth House Books
Initial publish date
Aug 2023
Category
General, Native American Studies
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781897252734
    Publish Date
    Jun 2010
    List Price
    $19.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781771770217
    Publish Date
    Aug 2023
    List Price
    $21.95

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

This startling retelling of the North-West Rebellion explodes the myth of a grand Indian-Metis alliance and delves into the reasons why Indians have been branded as traitors and rebels in both the public imagination and official records.

p align=left">After the rebellion, twenty-eight reserves were officially identified as disloyal, and more than fifty Indians - including Poundmaker and Big Bear - were convicted of rebellion-related crimes. The most damning event was the mass execution of eight Indian warriors at Fort Battleford in November 1885.

But Indian elders have long told stories about how First Nations remained faithful to their treaty promises during the conflict. Having their own peaceful strategies for dealing with an insensitive federal government, they were not interested in Riel's activities, and any Indian involvement was isolated, sporadic, and minimal. But Ottawa deliberately portrayed the Indians as outlaws to justify increasingly restrictive and repressive measures, an injustice that has left a lasting legacy with First Nations people.

Loyal till Death is the first comprehensive look at the Indian version of the North-West Rebellion. It brings to life many personalities - particularly those of the Indian leaders, whose voices have seldom been heard in conventional histories of the Canadian West. Combining oral history and exhaustive research, and illustrated with more than one hundred archival photographs, the book sheds new light on a greatly misunderstood aspect of our past.

About the authors

Bill Waiser is one of Canada's foremost historians. For more than three decades, he was a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan. He is now a full-time writer and public speaker. Bill has published nineteen books, in addition to plying his trade in radio, television, and print media. He's known for an engaging, popular style that draws on the power of stories. His most recent book, In Search of Almighty Voice: Resistance and Reconciliation, was launched at the One Arrow First Nation's community powwow at the request of the Elders.

Bill Waiser's profile page

Blair Stonechild is a Cree-Saulteaux member of the Muscowpetung First Nation in Saskatchewan. He is a Professor of Indigenous Studies at the First Nations University of Canada, where he was first employed in 1976. He coauthored, with Bill Waiser, Loyal Till Death: Indians and the North-West Rebellion, which won the Saskatchewan Book Award and was a finalist for the 1997 Governor General’s Literary Award.

Blair Stonechild's profile page

Other titles by

Cheated

The Laurier Liberals and the Theft of First Nations Reserve Land

by (author) Bill Waiser & Jennie Hansen

Gordie's Skate

by (author) Bill Waiser
illustrated by Leanne Franson

In Search of Almighty Voice

Resistance and Reconciliation

by (author) Bill Waiser

La Confédération, 1864-1999

nouvelles perspectives

edited by Daniel Heidt
edited and translated by Colin M. Coates
translated by Kim Poti, Daniel Poitras & Philippe Thompson
contributions by Marcel Martel, Maxime Gohier, J.R. Miller, Colin Coates, Martin Paquet, Phillip Buckner, Robert Wardhaugh, Barry Ferguson, Patricia Roy, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Ken S. Coates, Bill Waiser, Raymond B. Blake & Andre Legare

Reconsidering Confederation

Canada’s Founding Debates, 1864-1999

edited by Daniel Heidt
contributions by J.R. Miller, Marcel Martel, Colin Coates, Martin Paquet, Maxime Gohier, Phillip Buckner, Robert Wardhaugh, Barry Ferguson, Patricia Roy, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Ken S. Coates, Bill Waiser, Raymond B. Blake & Andre Legare

Reconsidering Confederation

Canada’s Founding Debates, 1864-1999

edited by Daniel Heidt
contributions by J.R. Miller, Marcel Martel, Colin Coates, Martin Paquet, Maxime Gohier, Phillip Buckner, Robert Wardhaugh, Barry Ferguson, Patricia Roy, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, Ken S. Coates, Bill Waiser, Raymond B. Blake & Andre Legare

Saskatchewan

A New History

by (author) Bill Waiser
photographs by John Perret

A World We Have Lost

Saskatchewan Before 1905

by (author) Bill Waiser

A Century of Parks Canada, 1911-2011

edited by Claire Campbell
contributions by Alan MacEachern, John Sandlos, Ben Bradley, Bill Waiser, C.J. Taylor, George Colpitts, Oliver Craig-Dupont, Ronald Rudin, David Neufeld, Brad Martin, E. Gwyn Langemann, I.S. MacLaren & Lyle Dick

All Hell Can't Stop Us

The On-to-Ottawa Trek and Regina Riot

by (author) Bill Waiser

Other titles by