Money, Markets, and Economic Development in Saskatchewan Indian Reserve Communities, 1870 to 1930s

Author's Abstract, Page i:

"It is widely-held that Indian reserves were peripheral to Canada's economy from the time of their establishment, and that reserve economic conditions in Saskatchewan from the 1870s to the 1930s remained unchanged or worsened over the entire period. However, statistical, archival and other sources, showed that Indians were pivotal to the development of markets and the monetization of Saskatchewan's economy. The first two decades of the twentieth century saw reserve economic growth and growing participation in the money economy, followed by a decade of stability. Indian reserves achieved modest economic successes in spite of government policies, Barriers to production for and participation in markets were circumvented, population, income and property data by agency revealed regional variations in the size, composition and temporary pattern of earnings. These arose from the differing resource bases, production orientations and market conditions. Greater economic success was associated with better access to markets; economic conditions worsened when the links between reserves and markets were broken, During the depression decade, the reserve economy was virtually dismantled; the link between reserve economic activity and the money economy was broken." (i).