Settling Saskatchewan by Alan B. Anderson (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Settling Saskatchewan by Alan B. Anderson John C. Lehr Settling Saskatchewan. By Alan B. Anderson. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2013. vii + 485 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $39.95 paper. Canada’s Prairie Provinces were settled by many peoples, both indigenous and immigrant. While the scholarly literature has described and analyzed the process and pattern of settlement of various ethnic and ethnoreligious groups on the Canadian Prairies, Alan Anderson’s latest work, Settling Saskatchewan, is the first to offer a comprehensive and detailed evaluation of the ethnoreligious settlement of an entire province. [End Page 185] Saskatchewan was first settled by indigenous peoples, including Denesuline, Cree, and Métis, followed by a dizzying array of European groups (ranging from Belgians to Ukrainians), North Americans, including Ontario British and Oklahoma Blacks, as well as peoples from Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. To inventory and analyze this kaleidoscope of ethnoreligious settlement is a formidable undertaking, one requiring a familiarity with a vast multidisciplinary literature and, equally importantly, extensive field experience. Professor Anderson demonstrates he has both. Settling Saskatchewan is organized thematically. Chapter 1 sets the stage by explaining the administrative and social frameworks that underpinned settlement, addressing some issues of defining group settlement, and explaining the array of sources used to assemble the data. Thereafter the book proceeds to examine various ethnic and ethnoreligious groups, which are grouped under broad chapter headings: Aboriginal reserves and settlements, British settlements, Germanic settlements, Ukrainian and Polish settlements, the settlements of other eastern European groups, French settlements, Nordic settlements, other settlements, and urban minorities. A concluding chapter, “Changing Times,” reviews the evolution of Saskatchewan society from a variety of sociological and demographic perspectives, considering, among other things, endogamy, geographic mobility, the impact of rural depopulation, and ethnic and religious identity. Settling Saskatchewan is well written and thoroughly documented. Following each chapter there is a useful bibliography suggesting key resources for those wishing to delve more deeply into the groups under discussion. Endnotes to each chapter appear at the end of the book, preceding a lengthy “Selected Bibliography.” Mostly very thorough, the bibliography and notes fail to include a few expected items, some of which may have appeared too late for inclusion. Some of the data relating to the current scene, about Hutterites, for example, is slightly dated, though this is hardly surprising given the scope of the work. Perhaps the book’s most surprising deficiency is the total absence of maps. While it is difficult to depict the incredibly complex distribution of often intermixed peoples, a few maps to show the areas where the principal groups settled would really enhance the usefulness and appeal of the volume. Readers outside the prairie region, unfamiliar with the geography of Saskatchewan, will find this a frustrating omission. Even a general location map would be beneficial. Notwithstanding these essentially minor shortcomings, Settling Saskatchewan remains a remarkable work of meticulous scholarship destined to become the principal resource for anyone wishing to gain a scholarly perspective on the settlement of Saskatchewan. It should be in the library of anyone interested in the settlement of western Canada, as well as in the collections of all those with an interest in the history, geography, and sociology of Saskatchewan. John C. Lehr Department of Geography University of Winnipeg Copyright © 2015 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln