UBC Press White Settler Reserve: New Iceland and the Colonization of the Canadian West

In 1875, Icelandic immigrants established a colony on the southwest shore of Lake Winnipeg. The timing and location of New Iceland was not accidental. Across the Prairies, the Canadian government was creating land reserves for Europeans in the hope that the agricultural development of Indigenous lands would support the state's economic and political ambitions. In this innovative history, Ryan Eyford expands our understanding of the creation of western Canada: his nuanced account traces the connections between Icelandic colonists, the Indigenous people they displaced, and other settler groups while exposing the ideas and practices integral to building a colonial society. Review White Settler Reserve contextualizes the emigrant story, and triangulates what is sometimes simplified into a binary relationship between settlers and indigenous peoples, lands and humans. Author: Claire Campbell, Bucknell University Source: Pacific Northwest Quarterly Western Canada’s bloc settlements are an understudied aspect of Canadian land policies in the nineteenth century, making Ryan Eyford’s study of New Iceland in Manitoba a welcome addition to the field. Author: Sheila McManus, University of Lethbridge Source: Pacific Historical Review White Settler Reserve exposes one of those corners of Canadiana omitted from official records and federal observances of this 150th anniversary of Confederation. It is shocking and intriguing, the best kind of history. Author: Holly Doan Source: Blacklock’s Reporter A particularly powerful aspect of White Settler Reserve is the richly detailed portrait it paints of the "First New Icelanders" who formed communities in this colonization reserve. By bringing their names, experiences, and struggles to this new audience, Eyford has helped to ensure their stories will not be forgotten. Author: Emma Battell Lowman and Adam J. Barker Source: Ormsby Review, March 2017 Review Moving beyond the familiar story of the Métis, Louis Riel, and the Red River Resistance, Ryan Eyford offers up a novel and fascinating account of Manitoba’s early history. By exploring the experiences of a well-known group of settlers – the Icelanders – he reveals a whole new side of the colonial reserve system. Author: Robert Wardhaugh, author of Behind the Scenes: The Life and Work of William Clifford Clark Book Description This innovative history of a reserve for Icelandic settlers connects the dots between immigration and Indigenous dispossession in western Canada. From the Author Ryan Eyford is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Winnipeg. He has published articles and chapters in Histoire sociale/Social History, the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, Sport History Review, and the edited collection Within and Without the Nation: Canadian History as Transnational History. About the Author Ryan Eyford is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Winnipeg.