Towards a Prairie Atonement
- Author Name: Trevor Herriot
- Award Year: 2017
- Publisher: University of Regina Press
- Publication Date: 2016
- ISBN: 9780889774544
- Author Website: http://www.trevorherriot.com, http://www.uofrpress.ca/publications/Towards-a-Prairie-Atonement
- Tags: Shortlist: Non-Fiction Award, Shortlist: Publishing Award, Shortlist: Regina Book Award, Winner: Publishing Award, Winner: Regina Book Award
About the Book
"Beautifully written, thoroughly persuasive, and a much-needed argument for the preservation of our remaining prairie, Towards a Prairie Atonement may well take its place among classics about the Western plains." - Sharon Butala When the government recently tried to abandon its responsibility to protect what little remains of the natural prairie, Trevor Herriot pushed back, only to discover an injustice haunting the lands he was trying to defend. In 1938, when the Métis of Ste. Madeleine returned from working away, they found their homes burned to the ground and their animals shot. The land they held in common was no longer theirs, but was now controlled by the federal government. Facing his own responsibility as a descendent of settlers, Herriot connects today's ecological disarray to colonial decisions to remove the Metis and their community land ethic from the prairie. Towards a Prairie Atonement proposes a restitution that could again bring people and prairie together.
About the Author
Trevor Herriot is a prairie naturalist and author of award-winning books, including Grass, Sky, Song and the national bestseller River in a Dry Land. A grassland activist and a skilled birder, he is a frequent guest on CBC Radio, and he posts regularly on grassland culture and environmental issues on his blog Grass Notes (trevorherriot.blogspot.ca). He and his wife, Karen, live in Regina, and spend much of their time on a piece of Aspen Parkland prairie east of the city.