The shameful tale of how the Canadian government denied the Métis land promised to them. From 1869 to 1885, as they attempted to achieve self-government and land security in the West, the Métis found themselves in a protracted struggle with the government in central Canada. Paying particular attention to the policies of Sir John. A. Macdonald, Sprague shows that an opportunity for a real accommodation was missed by a government that reaped important political benefits and difficulties from a provocative course of superficial conciliation, which culminated in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.