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humanities 443 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 lend itself to the same kind of analysis as the remainder of the book, and the connections with the broader themes of the study are, at times, unclear. Still, there is much that is important and tantalizing here. The fate of rural francophone immigrants is both relevant and difficult to trace. Urban employment in a city without a dominant industry provided no unifying experience, and the diverse backgrounds and geographical dispersal of the city=s francophones fractured their experiences. Only the ongoing connection to the family and farm seemed to hold, at least until the 1960s. Again, adaptation to capitalism and modernity is shown to be slow and (although the narrative ends in the 1940s) incomplete. There are few relevant debates that miss Sylvester=s eye. From the dispersal of the Métis in Montcalm, to the fate of French schooling in Manitoba, to the possibilities of a Franco-Manitoban capitalism, the author has woven his story into broader contexts. This is a local study that is far from parochial in its ideas and implications for the economic and social history of the region. (JAMES NAYLOR) Maureen K. Lux. Medicine That Walks: Disease, Medicine, and Canadian Plains Native People, 1880B1940 University of Toronto Press. xii, 300. $50.00, $22.95 For most Canadians, our health care system is a point of pride, a symbol of the nation=s commitment to all of its citizens. It is, we believe, a system that is based on universal access and the rights of all to equal levels of effective care, regardless of income or race. In fact, this vision of an equal, efficient, and efficacious Canadian health care system is built, at least partly, upon an illusion. Few realize that this same system, lauded for its fairness, has failed, and continues to fail, an important part of the country=s population. Canada=s Aboriginal people consistently suffer from far poorer health than Canadians in general; indeed, health care researchers continue to draw comparisons to conditions in the Third World. Far from being a recent development, though, the origin of this marked inequality in health pre-dates, but has been perpetuated by, our modern health care system. This decline in health began among the plains Aboriginal people in the late nineteenth century, and its origins and course until 1940 are the subject of Maureen Lux=s Medicine That Walks. According to Lux, this decline began with the Canadian government=s failure to respond adequately to a series of acute hunger crises among the plains tribes during the 1870s and 1880s, despite its treaty and humanitarian obligations. Insufficient food and inadequate clothing and shelter led to economic destitution and almost continual health crises. Tuberculosis quickly became entrenched on the xxxxxxx 444 letters in canada 2001 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 plains reserves, with soaring death rates the result. Rather than acknowledging the harmful effects of their policies, government officials chose to place the blame for the Aboriginal people=s hardships on their supposed racial and cultural inferiority. In turn, this doctrine of inherent weakness, fuelled by the emerging pseudo-science of race science, was taken up by others and used to justify the destructive policies of assimilation and medical interference that followed. Residential schools that were developed as vehicles for religious and cultural assimilation provided ideal conditions for the spread of tuberculosis. Hospitals that emerged as offshoots of the school system did little to alleviate the situation, while medical care was largely ineffective and was provided to the plains people based on the needs of non-Natives. Taken as a whole, this doctrine of racial inferiority had a devastating impact upon the health of the Aboriginal people of the plains, and its legacy is to be seen today. Lux=s thesis, with its focus on entrenched racism, is certain to be a controversial one, but it is well supported by her comprehensive research. In addition to drawing heavily upon government records and archival holdings from across Canada, documents that she has examined with a highly critical eye, she has also attempted to present the voice of...

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