Circular Progress: Health and Healthcare within Albertan Indian Residential Schools, 1920 - 1950
Date
2015-10-20
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Abstract
This study provides a systematic analysis of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health of the pupils in Indian Residential Schools from 1920 – 1950. It focusses on a single province – Alberta – and utilizes an inter-disciplinary approach to understand how the interaction between the biological and the psychosocial conditions of the schools contributed to both immediate and chronic health problems for Aboriginal students. Through an examination of nutrition, sanitation, disease, healthcare interventions, and mental health in the schools, it is seen that any “progress” the Department made in regards to the health of students was circular. Department officials used the inherent flaws in the system of school governance – which gave a few men ultimate power over the living conditions of thousands of children – to circumvent the responsibility they held towards the health of students. The ultimate result was a malnourished and vulnerable student population suffering from endemic disease and psychological trauma.
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Keywords
History--Canadian, History of Science
Citation
Larsson, P. (2015). Circular Progress: Health and Healthcare within Albertan Indian Residential Schools, 1920 - 1950 (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25330