Uprising. Douglas L. Bland

Uprising

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About this book

A root cause of terrorism in far-away countries, Canadians are told, is poor, desperate young people who turn their frustrations and anger on their “rich oppressors.” Uprising brings this scenario home to Canada.

When impoverished, disheartened, poorly educated, but well-armed aboriginal young people find a modern revolutionary leader in the tradition of 1880s rebellion leader Louis Riel, they rally with a battle cry “Take Back the Land!” Theirs is a fight to right the wrongs inflicted on them by “the white settlers.”

They know their minority force cannot take on all Canada. They don’t need to. A surprise attack on the nation’s most vulnerable assets – its abundant energy resources – sends the Canadian Armed Forces scrambling and politicians reeling. Over a few tension-filled days as the battles rage, the frantic prime minister can only watch as the insurrection paralyzes the country. But when energy-dependent Americans discover the southward flow of Canadian hydroelectricity, oil, and natural gas is halted, they do not remain passive.

Although none of Canada’s leaders saw it coming, the shattering consequences unfold with the same plausible harmony by which quiet aboriginal protests decades ago became the eerie premonitions of today’s stand-offs and “days of action.”

Praise for Uprising

“Is this [narrative] alarmist? Is Bland creating an exaggerated image of reality to stimulate needless panic? Or is he trying to educate his literate fellow citizens? Readers can decide. For my money he deserves a Giller Prize.”

— C2cjournal.ca

“...the fictional conditions underlying the uprising in the book so mirror the reality of modern Canada.”

— National Post

“Hard-hitting and regrettably all too believable.”

— Jack Granatstein, award-winning military historian, author of Who Killed Canada’s Military?

“Something that looks very much like a powder keg is sitting in our midst. But a native insurrection is virtually a taboo subject. Politicians, the media and the general public tacitly agree to ignore it … [and] Bland is convinced that a native uprising is inevitable if its feasibility is not reduced.”

— Huffington Post Canada

“In Uprising, Douglas Bland delivers a political thriller that at times seems frighteningly real. This is a story of failed political leadership, overstretched military forces and a national crisis that had repercussions far beyond the borders of Canada.”

— Sevenyearproject.com

“‘Combat-arms’ veteran, counter-insurgency expert, counsellor to governments, and leading military scholar-now, Colonel Bland emerges in Uprising as a master thriller-writer who wrenches Canadians from a stale-dated dream world, and answers the inescapable question: what happens in dangerous times when a passive population, narcissistic politicos and uncertain bureaucrats determine the nation’s fate? A scintillating read and devastating warning.”

— David Harris, director, International and Terrorist Intelligence Program, INSIGNIS Strategic Research Inc.; former chief of Strategic Planning, Canadian Security Intelligence Service

“Dr. Bland skilfully uses the format of a novel to examine Aboriginal and domestic security issues.… Uprising is neither a conspiracy tale nor a slippery slope argument. It is the canary in the mineshaft. With a frustrated, young Aboriginal population with limited chances relative to the broader Canadian population, with current means of addressing historical and current grievances wanting, and with limited Canadian capacity to ensure domestic security, it simply would not take that much to ignite a stronger opposition to the state and its mechanisms. The domestic security situation is more fragile and our means more limited to address threats than Canadians would like to think, and hoping for the best is not enough.”

— On Task Journal

UPRISING

A NOVEL

Douglas L. Bland

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons — with the exception of public and historical figures — is purely coincidental.

Design, typesetting, and maps: Gary Long / Fox Meadow Creations

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Bland, Douglas L., author

Uprising : a novel / Douglas L. Bland.

Reprint. Originally published: Toronto : Blue Butterfly Books, 2009.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4597-1946-0 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-4597-1197-6 (pdf).--ISBN 978-1-926577-35-7 (epub)

I. Title.

PS8603.L38U7 2013 C813’.6 C2013-904126-5 C2013-904127-3

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and Livres Canada Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.

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Dedication

This work is dedicated to the Cree Nation and especially to the Plains Cree who, in the spring of 1885, fought the North West Mounted Police and the Canadian Militia in a forlorn effort to take back their land. In the aftermath, they lost not only their land but also, it seemed for generations, the essence of their ancient culture – “the echo from the past.” The People’s greatest loss that spring was their belief that they would live a traditional way of life freely and forever in harmony with the Great Spirit on the generous, open prairies bounded by the Rocky Mountains, the Red River, and the endlessly flowing North and South Saskatchewan rivers. Among the Cree some now ask: is the ancient culture truly lost forever? Or is it alive, carried forward by the echo of the past that the Elders guard as the People await another day and the return of a great chief to lead the faithful?

Tecumseh’s Vision

“MY HEART IS A STONE. HEAVY WITH SADNESS FOR MY PEOPLE; cold with the knowledge that NO TREATY will keep the

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