Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson’s book Valley of the Birdtail (HarperCollins, 2022) won the Dafoe Prize and the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize. It was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.
LH: What is Valley of the Birdtail about and why should people read it?
DS: Valley is a history of Canada. The two Manitoba communities that we follow, Rossburn and Waywayseecappo, were both founded around the same time. We track family members and follow them over 150 years, right up to the present day, to show how government policy favours one population over the other.
LH: Andrew, you recently said you learned absolutely nothing about Indigenous people in history class. I assume there have been a lot of changes to how this subject is taught. Do you think Valley of the Birdtail addresses a gap that still exists in how the education system teaches Indigenous issues?
AS: We’ve met with a lot of teachers in recent months. And we asked them ‘How do you reach young people on these issues?’ The first thing they’ll say is you need to tell good stories. Stories are how younger people are going to learn. I really do think we’ve written a super accessible and moving story about the history of Canada and the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in a way that is going to reach young people.
LH: One of the themes of Valley of the Birdtail is that it’s never too late to learn and change. Do you think Canada does enough to educate older generations and new immigrants on Canada’s history with Indigenous peoples?
