Thirty Years of Journalism and Democracy in Canada:The Minifie Lectures 1981 – 2010 Edited by Mitch Diamantopoulos Published by Canadian Plains Research Centre Press Review by Regine Haensel $39.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-225-0 In his introduction, editor Mitch Diamantopoulos, Department Head of the School of Journalism, states: “This collection profiles the best of Canadian journalism. Its contributors seek to alert, to inform and to protect the people against those who would conceal or distort the truth. In other words, this is also a book about the ongoing struggle for democratic vitality and press freedom in Canada from 1981 to 2010.” Lectures begin with Knowlton Nash’s “Cleopatra, Harlots and Glue”, and continue with other well-known journalists and broadcasters such as Peter Gzowski, Pamela Wallin, Peter Mansbridge, Wendy Mesley, and Evan Solomon. These are the cream of the crop, not only in Canada, but around the world. Their credentials include work with the CBC, MacLean’s Magazine, Southam News, The Globe and Mail, CTV, Good Morning America, and Al Jazeera English-language international news channel. Some lectures discuss problems and pitfalls of journalism, such as censorship. In his 1983 lecture William Stevenson says, “I was in Indonesia when the first rebellions began against Dictator Sukarno ….

One Family’s War: The Wartime Letters of Clarence Bourassa, 1940-1944 Edited by Rollie Bourassa Published by Canadian Plains Research Center Review by Keith Foster $29.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-221-2 For the average soldier, war is mostly long periods of endless monotony, occasionally interrupted by spasms of sheer terror. This maxim is nowhere more clearly borne out than in One Family’s War: The Wartime Letters of Clarence Bourassa. As the title suggests, this really was a family war because it affected the entire family. By enlisting in the South Saskatchewan Regiment and being shipped overseas in 1940, Clarence had to leave his wife Hazel and two young sons, Rollie and Murray, back home at Lafleche, SK. Edited by his son Rollie, with an introduction by Regina Leader-Post reporter Will Chabun, these letters express Clarence’s abiding love for his wife and children, often with sentimental terms of endearment. Many of the letters are deeply personal. Right from the first, the reader can feel Clarence’s deep pangs of loneliness. And the further he got from his wife, the worse he felt: “I’m all alone in my tent with a great big lump in my throat, and I sure feel like crying.” Aside from letters, the…

First in Canada: An Aboriginal Book of Days by Jonathan Anuik Published by Canadian Plains Research Center Press Review by Chris Ewing-Weisz $24.95 978-088977-240-3 Every schoolchild has heard of La Vérendrye, but how many know the name of the Cree guide who made the canoe route map he relied on? We all know about the Plains of Abraham and Sir John A. Macdonald, but how many of us know about the numbered treaties, or when Native Canadians got the vote? Jonathan Anuik’s sumptuously illustrated, made-for-browsing book brings a hidden history to light. Hundreds of intriguing facts, arranged by date, alternate with photographs and short writeups about First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people across Canada, from earliest prehistory to the present. First in Canada celebrates Native achievements in every field: art, literature, music, architecture, politics, medicine, sports, religion, theatre, education, and more. Also noted are the darker elements of our shared history: conflicts from the North West Rebellion to Oka; Richard Cardinal’s suicide and David Marshall’s wrongful imprisonment; the long and tangled history of legislation and activism attempting to sort out the relationship between Native and more recently arrived Canadians. Many items are only briefly noted; readers will want to turn…

Storm of the Century: The Regina Tornado of 1912 by Sandra Bingaman Published by Canadian Plains Research Center Review by Keith Foster $29.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-248-9 If there was any doubt about the importance of newspapers to historical research, it is surely dispelled by Sandra Bingaman’s latest book, Storm of the Century. In describing the impact of the massive tornado that struck Regina on June 30, 1912, the author draws heavily on Regina’s three daily newspapers of the time – the Leader, the Province, and the Standard. By using selected quotes from these papers, she gives the reader a feeling of almost being there. When she quotes from survivors, it’s as if one is hearing their stories directly from them. For example, travelling salesman W.S. Ingram, who was in an office with Joseph Bryan when the storm struck, related his experience to a Standard reporter: “Strange to say, I felt no injury, other than a somewhat dazed condition. I could feel that Mr. Bryan must be on me, and reaching up my hand could feel his body. I called to him, but received no reply, and reached up again to feel his arm. The body became limp, and I was quite…

“Cree: Words” / “nēhiýawēwin: itwēwina Compiled by Arok Wolvengrey Published by Canadian Plains Research Center Reviewed by Chris Ewing-Weisz $49.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-127-7 Words tell how people see the world. Not just by the things they’re used to say: words themselves, their history, the way they’re formed, the rules governing their use, speak volumes about the culture in which they originate. That’s one of the things that makes Arok Wolvengrey’s Cree: Words so worthwhile. Its two volumes document the Cree language (primarily Plains Cree) as used by fluent speakers across Western Canada. Although its main function, as a bilingual dictionary, is to help speakers of English and Cree find the right word in each other’s language, it also provides a window into the strikingly different cultural assumptions that first met on this continent several hundred years ago. The idea that the world is a web of relationships is embedded in every word a Cree speaker utters. To choose the right word you must think about whether your subject is animate (alive) or not. Some words, like those for family members, do not stand alone, but must be described in relation to someone else. You also have to consider whether the object…

That’s Raven Talk by Mareike Neuhaus Published by Canadian Plains Research Centre Review by William Wardill $34.95 ISBN 978 -0-88977-233-5 The title of this book attracts readers who know about the place of Raven in Native spirituality. This book is identified on its cover as literary criticism. It was written primarily for those who understand the terminology of linguistics and for whom the study of languages is both a science and a passion. That’s Raven Talk began as a dissertation and, through the editorial judgement of Canadian Plains Research, became a book which expands on the use of the holophrase (one-word sentence) in the translation of Indigenous languages into English. Neuhaus examines carefully and at length excerpts from works by a bevy of writers who are familiar with Indigenous languages and culture. These are Ishmael Alunik ( Call Me Israel), Alootook Ipellie (Artic Dreams and Nightmares), Richard Van Camp (The Lesser Blessed), Thomas King (Green Grass, Running Water), and Louise Bernice Halfe (Blue Marrow.) In company with these authors, Neuhaus takes her readers into a half-lit world where everything familiar is subtly different. Although she writes for scientists, any word-lover can journey through her book to a deeper understanding of…

Honouring Our Past, Embracing Our Future: Celebrating a Century of Excellence in Education at the University of Regina Campus Text by Dr. James Pitsula Photos selected by Don Hall and Dr. Stephen King Published by the Canadian Plains Research Centre Press Review by Jessica Bickford $39.95 ISBN 9-780889-772434 There are one-hundred years of history packed into Honouring Our Past, Embracing Our Future, which is a visually stunning compilation of archival photographs and historical tidbits about the University of Regina. Dr. James Pitsula, who authored the text, is not only a history professor at the University of Regina, but he is also the authority on U of R history – having written three other books on the subject. Honouring Our Past, Embracing Our Future chronicles the U of R’s story from its humble beginnings in 1911 when Regina College (which was then a high school established by the Methodist Church) opened its doors to a whopping twenty-seven students, right up to the present day when the University now has twelve-thousand students, three federated colleges, and twenty research centres to its name. The intervening years, all chronicled through gorgeous photographs of students, faculty members, staff and buildings, are thoroughly described in four…

The New Normal: The Canadian Prairies in a Changing Climate by David Sauchyn, Harry P. Diaz and Suren Kulshreshtha Published by the Canadian Plains Research Center Review by Sandy Bonny $ 75.00 ISBN-13 987-0-921104-27-8 Don Gayton got it right years ago when he wrote ‘Average in this country is meaningless; it is a mere summation of profound extremes.’ Cold winters, dry summers, winters without snow, floods among sand dunes; these are all historical facts of life on the Canadian Prairies. How then do we assess ‘climate change’ in such a variable geography? How do we respond and adapt when wildcard years are increasingly the norm? These questions are addressed in the most recent publication of the Canadian Plains Research Center, The New Normal: The Canadian Prairies in a Changing Climate. Acknowledging that we are in the midst of climatic instability tied to human activity, this book brings together the work of 24 scientists and sociologists to paint a locally-focused portrait of the challenges we are likely to face in the coming century. The book can be read as a Prairie climate tour-de-force, or chapter descriptions in the introduction can guide readers to areas of particular interest. The New Normal moves…

Manitoba Premiers of the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Barry Ferguson and Robert Wardhaugh… [a] collection of essays, each dealing with a different Premier[;] it is a political history of a political province as seen through the lives of its Premiers.

Lake Diefenbaker: Yours to Discover by Michael and Anna Clancy Published by Canadian Plains Research Center Review by Keith Foster $19.95 ISBN 978-0-88977-229-8 Looking for the ultimate guide to the many enjoyable features of the Lake Diefenbaker area? Then Lake Diefenbaker: Yours to Discover is just the ticket. As the name suggests, this book revolves around what the authors call “Saskatchewan’s Great Lake” – Lake Diefenbaker, located in the heart of southern Saskatchewan. If stretched end to end, the lake’s shoreline would reach from Regina to Calgary. Authors Michael and Anna Clancy visited more than thirty communities, plus seven regional and four provincial parks, as they researched this extensive resource. They obviously enjoyed their travels, and their positive attitude is reflected in their descriptions. They talk affectionately about the Eye Candy Shop in Eyebrow and the Sweet Treats Ice Cream Shop and The Jelly Bean candy store in Elbow. From fishing, camping, swimming, boating, hiking, or bird watching, to rodeos, golf, tennis, auctions, craft and garage sales, dances, and the Tugaske Turkey Shoot, the area has something for everyone. Winter enthusiasts can enjoy curling, skating, sleigh rides, and tobogganing. For a slower pace, there are museums, art galleries, and historic…