Motorcycles and Sweetgrass

Taylor’s Motorcycles and Sweetgrass takes place in Canada on a fictional Indigenous reservation called Otter Lake First Nation, which characters in the novel call a “Reserve.” Such a setting would be unfamiliar to many readers for a couple of reasons. This reservation is based on real locations in Canada: Among the Anishnawbe/Ojibway people, 14 such reserves exist in Canada and the U.S. One of the novel’s subplots is Maggie’s challenges as chief of her band. First Nation leaders face many difficulties in trying to govern reserves. In the novel, Maggie must navigate four different layers of bureaucracy that constrain the decisions Indigenous nations take; often trying to enact self-governance for the Anishnawbe in practice means first making sure white Canadian citizens are happy. Although Maggie has some authority as chief, she is also subject to Canada’s parliamentary form of government. Canada is run by elected Members of Parliament (or MPs), one of whom becomes Prime Minister; in the novel, when the Anishnawbe band buys back 300 acres of land of add to the reservation, the local MP warns her that reporter will demand to know the band’s plans for the acreage.