Description
Separate Beds: A History of Indian Hospitals in Canada, 1920-1980s is the story of Canada’s system of segregated health care. Operated by the same bureaucracy that was expanding health care opportunities for most Canadians, the Indian Hospitals were underfunded, understaffed, overcrowded, and rife with coercion and medical experimentation. Established to keep the First Nations and Inuit tuberculosis population isolated, they became a means of ensuring that other Canadians need not share access to modern hospitals with Indigenous patients. Tracing the history of the system from its fragmentary origins to its gradual collapse, Maureen K. Lux describes the arbitrary and contradictory policies that governed the Indian Hospitals, the experiences of patients and staff, and the vital grassroots activism that pressed the federal government to acknowledge its treaty obligations. In examining the dark side of the liberal welfare state, Separate Beds reveals a history of racism and negligence in health care for First Nations and Inuit that should never be forgotten. Individual hospitals such as the Lady Willingdon Hospital in Ohsweken, Ontario; Charles Camsell Indian Hospital; Coqualeetza Indian Hospital; Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital; Hobbema Indian Hospital; and Moose Factory Hospital among others are covered.