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"Do something!... Do anything!" Poliomyelitis in Canada, 1927-1967
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--Description taken from ""Do something!... Do anything!" Poliomyelitis in Canada, 1927-1967"--
During the first half of the twentieth century poliomyelitis became one of Canada's most prominent public health challenges. Each "polio season" this paralyzing disease primarily struck children suddenly and capriciously, leaving in its wake life-long physical disabilities. As epidemics worsened, their frightening public image and high costs generated an escalating response from provincial governments that established new precedents in the provision of free and unconditional hospitalization and medical services. After World War II, the growing polio threat stimulated new levels of federal intervention and financing, including the imposition of national standards and control in the distribution and evaluation of polio vaccines between 1955 and 1962.
This dissertation explores the factors underlying the Canadian response to polio, especially its terrifying nature and high visibility, and within a context of growing public expectations for action and protection, the profound frustrations associated with its scientific and medical understanding, diagnosis, prevention, control, treatment and after-care. Of particular significance was the middle class' unusual vulnerability to polio, especially during the post-war "baby boom."
The broad response of Canadian governments to polio was built upon the leadership and shared values of a number of key individuals involved in public health that were closely connected to the provincial and federal health departments. The University of Toronto's Connaught Laboratories and its medical research and biological production efforts was a central link between these elements.
Strong government intervention differentiated the Canadian polio experience from the American, although there were important U.S. influences. In particular, the conjunction of American enthusiasm for a series of hopeful polio "weapons" with major Canadian epidemics had a direct impact on the growth of provincial polio services. A major force on governments and voluntary efforts north of the border was the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis ("March of Dimes"), with its unprecedented fundraising, patient care and research program. There were also important influences from north to south. Financed by American dimes, and by significant Canadian funding, comprehensive polio research efforts at Connaught proved critical to the development and unprecedented field trial of the Salk vaccine and the ultimate control of this disease.
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"So, Where are you from?"
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--Description taken from " So, Where are you From?"--
Literature studying urban Indians before 1970 concentrated on developing theories about acculturation and economic integration. As better data became available, statistical studies appeared. The texts rarely included a historical understanding of the people they studied. In the period, 1800 to 1972, at least three urban Indian communities associated themselves with Ottawa and Gatineau. The communities overlapped, but each had a separate history. They originated for different reasons; organized themselves to suit specific interests; and each had a distinct reason to associate with the cities. Ottawa's status as capital city often played an important role. The communities are complex, because Indians are a multi-national group, and the communities had an itinerant quality, meaning their community history unfolded both inside and outside city borders.
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"We of the New Left"
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-Description taken from “We of the New Left”-
The Student Union for Peace Action (SUPA), was a Canadian group of New Leftists that formed a multi-issue movement for radical social change in the 1960s. SUPA emerged out of the Combined Universities Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and organized around peace, racial and economic equality, and educational freedom between December 1964 and September 1967. At its final conference, four SUPA women, Judy Bernstein, Peggy Morton, Linda Seese, and Myrna Wood, presented a paper titled, “Sisters, Brothers, Lovers…Listen…,” in which they argued for the addition of gender equality to this list of New Leftist concerns. Following this conference, Morton, Seese, and Wood formed Canada’s first women’s liberation group in Toronto. This dissertation explores both the character of SUPA’s New Leftism, and the rise and articulation of a feminist consciousness within the group. The definition of New Leftist activism is contested among scholars. This study builds upon an historiographical challenge to New Leftist narratives that focus squarely on young white middle-class men, by arguing that its history belongs to several other actors, such as older leftists, civil rights activists, and women’s liberationists. SUPA illuminates a definition of New Leftism as a collection of overlapping movements around issues such as nuclear disarmament, economic and racial justice, and eventually, gender equality. Using a gender-conscious approach, this dissertation examines how these movements converged within SUPA, and how each served as a backdrop to the development and expression of a feminist consciousness that led to the production of “Sisters, Brothers, Lovers...Listen...” in 1967. By examining SUPA’s history through a lens of gender, this dissertation presents new understandings of the impact of the group’s strategic shifts upon activists, and of its operations as a movement. It further complicates the conventional representation of activist women in the group as secretaries and maternal figures, which has developed out of isolated readings of “Sisters, Brothers, Lovers...Listen...” A gender study of the multiple sites of SUPA’s movement activity demonstrates that while gender expectations certainly shaped women’s experiences, they did not have a uniform impact, and did not impose one-dimensional activist identities upon women in the group; rather, as this dissertation argues, SUPA women’s participation in the movement took different forms, and resulted in multifaceted activist identities. Their experiences were marked by a tension between subordination and empowerment, and it was from this position that they analyzed their place in the movement, and called for the inclusion of gender equality to the list of New Leftist demands.
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1914 Reports on Cree Bands
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The 1914 Reports on Cree Bands discuses different First Nation communities and what these communities do.
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A Biography of Chief Walter P. Deiter
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--Description taken from "A Biography of Chief Walter P. Deiter"
The development of contemporary Indian organizations in Canada has been examined for leadership styles (Boldt 1973; Dyck 1983; 1991) and by historians and sociologists in a specific ways (Patterson 1972, Lueger 1977, Ponting and Gibbins 1980, Surtees 1971, Weaver, 1981). A corpus of political biographies about contemporary Indian political leaders in Canada has only recently begun to be created (MacGregor 1989; McFarlane, 1993; Sluman and Goodwill, 1982).
The focus of this study is a political biography on Walter Deiter, a central figure in the development of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the National Indian Brotherhood (later to be known as the Assembly of First Nations). The conclusions of this study are that Walter Deiter had significant historical importance in the political development of Indian people in Canada. He was the first Canadian Indian leader to organize successfully national and regional Indian political aspirations. Deiter asserted that Indian people themselves knew what was the best approach to improve the social and economic conditions of his people. His approach was to confront colonialism in the Canadian federal government and to assert the potential of Indian people to help themselves. Deiter became the fulcrum of major change in the development of Canadian Indian policies. His legacies are the political platforms that he established for Aboriginal people that allowed them a voice in the policy decisions affecting them, which prior to his leadership seldom occurred. His ability to bridge Indian and non-Indian people was his greatest asset which, when combined with a firm conviction that Indians deserved the right to self-determination, laid the foundation for the Aboriginal self-government.
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A Comparison of Canadian and American Treaty-Making Policy with the Plains Indians, 1867-1877
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-- Description taken from "A Comparison of Canadian and American Treaty-Making Policy with the Plains Indians, 1867-1877"--
This thesis offers an examination o f the long-held self-perception of Canada as a benevolent nation in the realm of Indian policy. Through a comparison of Canadian and American Indian policy, specifically in an investigation of theorigins, context, terms and programs of the 1867-1868 American treaties at Medicine Lodge Creek and Fort Laramie and the 1870s Canadian Numbered Treaties, questions are raised about the accuracy of this Canadian conviction. Superficial impressions based on the violence of the American west, which contrasts sharply with the more serene Canadian frontier, give way in a closer scrutiny of treaty-making motives and practice to conclusions which challenge conventional wisdom on the nature of Canadian policy. Recent studies of Indian policy in a national context have characterized it as one of “indifference and neglect”. This conclusion is confirmed in the broader framework offered by a comparative investigation juxtaposing the Canadian and American reserve and “civilization” programs which were elaborated in these treaties.
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A Description and Analysis of Sacrificial Stall Dancing
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--Description taken from " Description and Analysis of Sacrificial Stall Dancing:As Practiced by the Plains Cree and Saulteaux of the Pasqua Reserve, Saskatchewan in their Contemporary Rain Dance Ceremonies"--
This thesis, based on ten years of field work and ethnohistorical research, describes and analyzes the beliefs, purpose and practices of Sacrificial Stall Dancing within the parameters of the Rain Dance, with particular reference to the Plains Cree and Saulteaux of Southern Saskatchewan from 1977 to the present. Sacrificial Dancing, being a form of Sacred Dancing involving physical renunciation to gain some significant favor, is a universally practiced method for gaining spiritual assistance from an omnipotent and omnipresent source.
Unfortunately, the role and importance of Sacrificial Dancing, especially as it related to Stall Dancing, have not been well understood nor documented by past researchers. Its inclusion, as a form of individual worshiping within the Rain Dance, allows for community participation and contributes significantly to the cultural identity and spiritual unity of both the Plains Cree and Saulteaux.
This study will be of interest and value to First Nations bands, Native agencies, and cultural centers, and would be of value to students of history, ethnology, dance, religious studies, cultural symbolism and museum curators.
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A Local Food System for Saskatoon: Envisioning Prosperous Rural Communities and Food-secure Cities on the Canadian Prairies
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-Description taken from "A Local Food System for Saskatoon: Envisioning Prosperous Rural Communities and Food-secure Cities on the Canadian Prairies"-
Perhaps nowhere in the world is the unsustainability of our current agricultural system more obvious than on the Canadian Prairies. Based not upon the ecological capacity of the land or the well-being of those who care for it, but upon industrial economies of scale and mass production, this fossil fuel driven system is not only causing environmental and cultural destruction which threatens the very ability of the ecosystem to continue producing food in a future of diminished fossil fuel resources, but as many recent studies have shown, the abundance of cheap grain being delivered by the system is doing more to increase hunger and human health problems around the world than to help alleviate them. Fortunately, as more and more of us realize this and many other fallacies (e.g. that industrially produced food is safe, healthy and nutritious) being told by global agribusiness today, an alternative is emerging. By reconnecting with each other directly through things like CSAs and farmers’ markets, producers and consumers around the world are making viable systems of production that are not only environmentally sound and culturally rewarding, but since they limit a community’s dependence on globally traded commodities, also contribute to the building of an overall food system which is far healthier as well as far more equitable than the global industrial one we have today. Through the development of a local food system (comprised of small-scale natural-systems-based production, rural processing and support centers, neighbourhood farmers’ markets, and community support facilities) involving one urban and one rural community - between which there is a critical reciprocal relationship - this thesis investigates the scale of system required to feed a Prairie city of 200,000, and what the implications of this would be to both the food security of urban communities, as well as the economic and social vitality of surrounding rural communities.
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A Mustard Seed
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-Description taken from "A Mustard Seed"-
It seemed to be a match made in heaven. The congregation felt new hope with [Trudy Meyer]'s arrival and took to her as if she were one of their own. Trudy took to Mistawasis as if she were native to it. Even a northern Saskatchewan winter couldn't dampen her enthusiasm. This was clear to Trudy's sister, Tilly, when she visited Mistawasis for a week in January. On their way to church on Sunday, the sisters encountered big drifts from the previous evening's snowfall along the gravel road. Trudy simply stepped on the gas in her new 4[Symbol Not Transcribed]4 and plowed through them.
To the congregation, it was, as Harvey put it, the quality of Trudy's time with them that mattered, not the quantity. On March 10, Trudy's family drove to Mistawasis Memorial where many of Trudy's friends welcomed them. The furnace had been turned on to warm the church, and candles were placed across the front of the sanctuary. Harvey rang the church bell three times in Trudy's memory. It was a heart-breakingly sorrowful yet beautiful moment. Harvey asked everyone present to stand in a circle and join hands. He prayed that God would help Trudy's family in their grief. Then he gave thanks for God's blessing to the native people of Mistawasis--for the gifts of Trudy's time, love and devotion.
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A Tax-Eating Proposition the History of the Passpasschase Indian Reserve
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--Description taken from "A Tax-Eating Proposition the History of the Passpasschase Indian Reserve"--
The surrender of „the Passpasschase Reserve in November of 1888 J I was the first significant Indian Reserve surrender in the Canadian North West-. As such, it was the precedent for the devastating series of Indian land surrenders which followed during the first three decades of the Twentieth Century. Like many precedents, however, the Passpassphase surrender was not the result of any considered government policy, nor was it intended to set the pattern for future land cessions by Indian bands. Rather', it was the product of a unique combination of circumstances which conspired to make the abandonment and sale of the reserve lands appear to be the most expedient response to immediate pressures. While the Department of Indian; Affairs was quickly r disgorged by the practical problems which it encountered in attempting to dispose of the reserve land and became rather disenchanted with the surrender process as a result, others took a different view. Prank Oliver, the editor of the Edmonton Bulletin, and a leader among the white residents of Edmonton who had campaigned vigorously against the establishment of the Passpasserhase Reserve since before, it was definitely located, found confirmation for his belief that the land was needed by better men in the final outcome of the surrender.- By the end of the century, the potential of a forty square mile tract which had been virtually unexploited by a band of Indians which had "gone into the business of starving and durring the Government for grub", was supporting a prosperous community of industrious white farmers. The Passpasschase Reserve had been transformed from a tax-eating to a tax-paying proposition and this change was most gratifying to the future Superintendent General of Indian Affairs.
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A Treaty Right to Education
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Sheila Carr-Stewart argues in "A Treaty Right to Education", that First Nation communities who participated in signing the treaties had understood what is expected from current and future members, but it was the crown that had provided limited education as a form of assimilation.
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Aboriginal and Colonial Geographies of the File Hills Farm Colony
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--Description taken from "Aboriginal and Colonial Geographies of the File Hills Farm Colony"--
Canadian government archives have primarily shaped scholars’ analysis of the File Hills farm colony on the Peepeekisis Reserve in south eastern Saskatchewan. While these colonial archives are valuable for research, they emphasise particular points in the government’s telling of the colony story. They focus on the construction, management, and intentions of the colony, but neglect the experiences and perspectives of Peepeekisis community members affected by the colony scheme. My thesis makes use of government archives, and is also based on Aboriginal oral histories about the colony and its long-term consequences. My central argument is that a more critical interpretation of archives and oral histories will enrich the historical and geographical record about the colony. I demonstrate how oral histories and archive documents can converge and diverge, but combining the two is particularly important to nuance the colony narrative. A critical viewing of texts and oral histories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries also reveals that colonialism in the prairie west was highly spatalised and grounded in “betterment” sciences that sought to control and discipline Aboriginal peoples through the manipulation of space, heredity, and environments. Betterment sciences shaped Indian Affairs policy and the farm colony is a remarkable example of how betterment was applied on the ground. Finally, oral histories offer powerful insight into Aboriginal identities that survive in spite of colonial constructs and strategies. Oral histories of Peepeekisis community members are particularly important for highlighting peoples’ everyday geographies and lives only hinted at in colonial archive documents. Part of what makes this thesis original is that it is based on collaborative research. I sought Peepeekisis band permission to conduct this project, and Peepeekisis community members’ oral histories form an important part of this thesis and they have provided guidance on the documenting of their oral histories in this thesis.
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Abundance and Structure of Burbot Lota Lota Populations in Lakes and Reservoirs of the Wind River Drainage, Wyoming
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--Description taken from "Abundance and Structure of Burbot Lota Lota Populations in Lakes and Reservoirs of the Wind River Drainage, Wyoming"--
Burbot Lota lota were sampled in eight lakes and reservoirs of the Wind River that support sport fisheries. Standardized sampling methods with trammel nets enabled indices of fish density, length structure, and body condition to be used to assess burbot populations. Catch per unit effort (C/f) varied among waters indicating differences in population densities, but variation in water temperature and clarity at the time of sampling may have also contributed to variation in C/f. Length structures of samples were described using proportional size distribution (PSD) and differences were observed among populations. Variation in length structure was attributed to differences in recruitment and harvest among populations. Body condition was described using relative weight (Wr). Variation in Wr among length classes of burbot from differing waters was attributed to availability and size of prey. Analysis of environmental and human factors indicated no substantial influences on burbot populations.
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Accelerating Bridge Building Between Intertwined Paths
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--Description taken from "Accelerating Bridge Building Between Intertwined Paths"--
Health care governance in the context of Crown-Aboriginal relationships in Canada is often dysfunctional and individuals continue to suffer unconscionable harms as a result. I argue that emerging tripartite agreements between Aboriginal nations and the federal and provincial governments have the potential to ameliorate this situation if they are conducive to the integrated pursuit of reconciliation between the Crown and Aboriginal peoples and protection of individual rights in publicly financed health care. Judicial supervision can ensure that individual rights/health are not compromised during the reform process, while potentially accelerating the negotiation and implementation of tripartite arrangements that are effective and sustainable, which I argue requires: (1) integration of health policy planning responsibility; (2) consistency with Aboriginal rights to self-government; and (3) a recognition of the on-going relevance of legal accountability mechanisms as between (a) the Crown and Aboriginal peoples and (b) institutions responsible for health care policy and Aboriginal citizens.