Arlena Bateman
T00554734
History 4250
Tracy Penny Light
Reading Log #1
January 14, 2018
Myra Rutherdale’s article “Children, Health, and Hygiene in Northern Canadian Communities” examines how many missionaries and others of the white population showed a lack of consideration towards other cultural practices and rituals when implementing new practices. This is demonstrated in how they strongly criticized the Aboriginal people for the ways they gave birth, dressed their newborn children, and mainly their lack of bathing. These were the main things they wanted to change within the Aboriginal culture and this is why some “Aboriginal women lost their sense of empowerment through the erosion of their control over childbirth.”[1] Similarly to Mona Gleason’s article, “School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890-1930” shows how the White population went about enforcing regulations in a powerful way that led the Aboriginal people to resist the advice and regulations put upon them. For example, a Western nurse did not heed the cultural importance of hair to the Inuit as shown, “If she could not remove the lice, she would cut the hair. While taboos forbade cutting the tresses of Inuit girls, Copeland would not be deterred.”[2] This superior attitude is another example of the distrust that occurred as a result of not taking other cultural differences into consideration. Rutherland reveals the impact this had by providing the perspective of the Inuit who recall some of these occurrences. The newcomers “were always telling her people just exactly what to do.”[3] However, Rutherdale does provide accounts where the Westerner’s did accommodate some Aboriginal practices and demonstrated a more receptive and open to approach versus just pushing all of these new ways at once. For example, in a memoir by a midwife, Wilson watched and allowed the traditional methods and incorporated some modern medicine instead of completely taking over.[4] Rutherdale uses many first-hand accounts to get the point of Westerners strongly tried implementing certain practices in without realizing the implications. For example, bathing as a frequent routine in order to help prevent disease such as scabies and impetigo without understanding the lack of resources in some areas. Westerners point of view was to eradicate these medical problems that could be easily resolved with simple hygiene. However, similarly to Gleason’s article, many went about it incorrectly. They should have worked with the provisions the Aboriginals had, included their cultural practices and allowed time to adapt to some provisions that would benefit them in the long term. After all, suffering from skin conditions, lice problems, and other communicable diseases should be addressed but not in a dominating conforming manner. Incorporating these health regulations more slowly would have prevented the resistance that these other cultures had due to such harsh implementation.
“School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890-1930” by Mona Gleason examines the implications on the other classes and cultures as Westerners try to enforce their system of Public Health. The Public Health Act expected everyone, such as the Aboriginals and Immigrants, to conform to their standards and practices. What resonated throughout the article was the disparity between the races and the lack of resources to meet the standard of the “white middle-class.”[5] The author points how this standard of cleanliness was to be implemented regardless of the lack of resources that many faced with disciplinary actions. This was illustrated with the story of the Chinese Canadian girl who worked the farms and did not have access to washing up before school and was disciplined as a result.[6] Many immigrants felt the standards were “racist and exclusionary.”[7] Gleason conveys how the Public Health Act was seen as a crusade by the white upper class society rather than the objective to providing healthcare for everyone. As stated in the article, “Protecting the ‘public’ health revolved around a paradox: it meant excluding and demonizing a particular portion of the public.”[8] Westerner’s appeared to enforce these health regulations mainly on Aboriginals and the Immigrants, such as the Chinese; in order to stop the spread of disease due to the lack of hygiene. Even though it was found that many immigrants shared confined living quarters and made it hard to implement the cleanliness desired. Also, many reserves did not have proper wells or fresh water to bathe or wash. Again, these issues were not addressed by the government as they set to enforce the health regulations with superiority. For example, the officials isolated and placed blame on an Indian Reserve during an outbreak of smallpox rather than assisting with treatment. Gleason also examines how the responsibility of enforcing the regulations was placed on teachers and parents which only lead to further issues as none were trained and much was overlooked. The conditions of the schools were also an issue, such as poor ventilation, lack of water, overcrowding, all seemed to be overlooked as something to repair before instilling such strict guidelines.[9] There was much neglect within rural schools which is defined in the article, for example, health inspectors rarely made an appearance at the rural schools versus the urban schools. Of course preventing the spread of disease and sustaining life are good intentions and worth implementing, just not in the way it was done back in this time period.
Bibliography:
Gleason, Sara, “School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890 1930,” in Krasnick Warsh and Strong-Boag (Eds.), Children’s Health Issues in Historical Perspective, Waterloo, WLU Press, 2005: 287-304.
Rutherdale, Myra, “Children, Health, and Hygiene in Nothern Canadian Communities,” Children’s Health Issues in Historical Perspective, Waterloo, WLU Press, 2005: 305-332.
Endnotes:
[1] Myra Rutherdale, “Children, Health, and Hygiene in Northern Canadian Communities,” Children’s Health Issues in Historical Perspective, (Waterloo: WLU Press, 2005), 307.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Sara Gleason, “School Medical Inspection and ‘Healthy’ Children in British Columbia, 1890-1930,” Children’s Health Issues in Historical Perspective, (Waterloo: WLU Press, 2005), 288
[6] Ibid, 298.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid, 288.
[9] Ibid.
