‘Towards a Prairie Atonement’ by Saskatchewan naturalist and writer Trevor Herriot has been selected as the One Book One Province title for 2026, launching a yearlong province-wide reading and discussion program led by libraries.
The annual initiative, organized by the Saskatchewan Library Association, encourages people across conversations about shared history and culture. Events connected to the program will begin with a formal launch at Government House in Regina on March 26, followed by library-hosted discussions in communities across Saskatchewan through the spring.
Herriot said the selection came as a surprise, particularly because the book was first published in 2016.
“It was a wonderful surprise to learn this,” he said. “The book is fairly old now, so it is always good to have one of my older books get some new life. Considering all the wonderful writers who have been chosen before, it is a great honour to be among them.”
Towards a Prairie Atonement examines the history of Indigenous and Métis displacement on the prairies and connects it to present day environmental damage. A central focus of the book is the destruction of the Métis community of Ste. Madeleine in the late 1930s, when families were forced off their land, homes were burned, and animals were killed after the area was converted into a government-controlled community pasture.
Herriot said the book was written with guidance from Métis elder and Michif speaker Norman Fleury, who spent time with him on the land and shared the history and meaning of Ste. Madeleine. Herriot also added that Fleury offered a balanced perspective on the community’s past and helped ground the book in Métis language, culture, and lived experience. He said the book would not have been possible without Fleury’s cooperation and support.
Herriot said the book is often misunderstood as asking readers to feel guilt, something he strongly rejects.
“The book does not ask anybody to feel guilty,” he said. “What it asks is that settler people recognize that our history and our presence here has come at a great cost to Indigenous cultures and to the integrity of the ecosystems that sustained them for thousands of years.”
He said the settlers are not going anywhere, but responsibility lies in finding better ways to live together on the land.
“We have to find ways to come together as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in forming new ways of engaging with the land and with one another that are not so exploitative and extractive,” Herriot said.
A key theme of the book is the role of Métis culture as a bridge between indigenous and European traditions. Herriot said Métis lifeways once combined agriculture, hunting, and deep respect for the land, offering lessons that remain relevant today.
“We know that the way we are living here and throughout much of the world has now become, you know, very destructive,” he said. “There is more and more awareness now amongst people that Indigenous ways of knowing, indigenous knowledge systems and life ways, have something to say, not just to the past and to our history, but to our future and our ways of trying to live here in a more. Graceful and humble way.”
The selection also coincides with the United Nations International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026, a connection Herriot said fits closely with the book’s focus on native prairie.
“The book talks a lot about native grassland and our need to give it the care and respect that Indigenous and Métis people have traditionally given it,” he said.
Herriot said he hopes the province-wide reading experience encourages thoughtful and respectful discussion, particularly among settler readers.
“I write mostly for settler people,” he said. “It is about opening our hearts and minds to our history, understanding the privileges we have inherited, and learning how to live here in a way that shows respect for the thousands of years Indigenous people have been on this land.”
When asked what atonement looks like in practical terms, Herriot said it begins with unity rather than uniformity.
“Atonement is about coming together in a respectful way,” he said. “Not becoming the same, but seeing one another across our differences and sharing land and resources in a fair way.”
Library hosted events tied to One Book One Province 2026 will take place in Regina, Saskatoon, Yorkton, Maple Creek, Assiniboia, Moosomin, and other communities, giving readers opportunities to engage directly with the book and its ideas.
Herriot said he is grateful for the chance to bring the book back into public conversation.
“I think of myself as somebody who writes for prairie audiences,” he said. “This is another opportunity to talk honestly about where we live and our responsibility for it.”
arjun.pillai@paherald.sk.ca
