The Homesteaders covers the whole settler experience, beginning in what is now Saskatchewan during the year Canada was founded and continuing through the immigration boom preceding the First World War. Based on a remarkable collection of interviews conducted in the 1950s, settlers recount in their own words how they built a society on land ethnically cleansed of Indigenous people, something most knew nothing about.

Homesteaders describe the formidable task of building the family home from sod or logs, the back-breaking labour of cropping and harvesting the fields, the patience needed when working with draught animals, and the misery of dealing with the pests that threatened their livelihood. Their reminiscences extend further as they discuss the type of food that was available, the medical practices they had to endure, and the educational experiences of their children in oneroom schoolhouses, as well as their hobbies, the books they read, the songs sang, the pets they owned, the games they played, and the local dances, picnics, weddings, and chivarees they attended during these early years.

Sandra Rollings-Magnusson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at MacEwan University. She has studied western Canadian homesteaders for over thirty years. Since receiving a Master’s Degree from the University of Regina and a PhD from the University of Alberta, she has written numerous academic journal articles on homesteading life and lectured on a number of homesteading topics. She has also written three books: Tales from the Homestead: A History of Prairie Pioneers, 1867–1914 (finalist, Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction); Heavy Burdens on Small Shoulders: The Labour of Pioneer Children on the Canadian Prairies; and The Homesteaders.

Sandra Rollings-Magnusson's profile page

Nadine Charabin's profile page