Further Reading
ABORIGINAL HEALTH IN CANADA:
Historical, Cultural, and
Epidemiological Perspectives
By James B. Waldram, D. Ann
Herring and T. Kue Young
University of Toronto Press, 2002
ISBN 0802068871
334 pages
Numerous studies, inquiries and statistics accumulated over the years have demonstrated the poor
health status of Aboriginal Peoples relative to the
Canadian population in general. This state of affairs
has led to charges of neglect, indifference and even
genocide against the federal government and Canadian society by Aboriginal groups and their supporters. The debate on Aboriginal health services has focused on their current availability, adequacy,
accessibility, effectiveness, and sensitivity to community needs. While there are several books on particular
aspects of Aboriginal health and health care in
Canada, a comprehensive historical review that is national in scope and combines the methodologies and
perspectives of epidemiology, history, and anthropology has not been available until now.
Aboriginal Health in Canada is about the complex
web of physiological, psychological, spiritual, historical, sociological, cultural, economical, and environmental factors that contributed to health and disease
patterns among the Aboriginal Peoples in Canada. Authors James B. Waldram, D. Ann Herring and T. Kue
Young explore the evidence for changes in patterns of
health and disease prior to European contact and since
then, up to the present. They discuss medical systems
and the place of medicine within various Aboriginal
cultures and trace the relationship between politics
and the organization of health services for Aboriginal
Peoples. They also examine popular explanations for
Aboriginal health patterns today and emphasize the
need to understand both the historical-cultural context
of health issues and the diversity of circumstances
that give rise to variation in health problems and healing strategies in Aboriginal communities across the
country. An overview of Aboriginal Peoples in
Canada provides a very general background for the
non-specialist. Finally, contemporary Aboriginal healing traditions, the issue of self-determination and
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health care, and trends in Aboriginal health issues are
examined.
Waldram is a professor in the Department of Native
Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. He and
N. Dyck are the editors of Anthropology, Public Policy and Native Peoples in Canada. Herring is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at
McMaster University. She and Leslie Chan are editors
of Strength in Diversity: A Reader in Physical Anthropology. Young is a professor in the Department of
Community Health Services in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine. He is author of The
Health of Native Americans and Health Care and Cultural Change.
Journal of Aboriginal Health • January 2004
COMPARING THE POLICY OF
ABORIGINAL ASSIMILATION:
Australia, Canada and New Zealand
By Andrew Armitage
University of British Columbia Press,
January 1995
ISBN 0774804599
304 pages
The Aboriginal People of Australia, Canada and
New Zealand became minorities in their own countries in the 19th century. The expanding British Empire had its own vision for the future of these peoples, which was expressed in 1837 by the Select
Committee on Aborigines of the House of Commons. It was a vision of the steps necessary for them
to become civilized, Christian and citizens – in a
word, assimilated.
Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation
provides the first systematic and comparative treatment of the social policy of assimilation that was followed in these three countries. The recommendations
of the 1837 committee were broadly followed by each
of the three countries. However, there were major differences in the means that were used. Australia began
with a denial of the Aboriginal presence. Canada began establishing a register of all Status Indians. New
Zealand began by giving British citizenship to all
Maori.
The policy of assimilation is traced through five
principal phases:
• a period of initial contact when the power relationships necessary to carry out the policy were established;
• a period when the policy was passive and Aboriginal People were expected to die out or merge with
the immigrant populations;
• a period of aggressive policy when specific social
policies were introduced to suppress Aboriginal institutions;
• a period of integration when it was thought that the
policy could be achieved through disregarding the
Aboriginal existence; and
• the present period when the policy is being reversed as Aboriginal Peoples re-establish control of
their own social policy.
As well as providing comprehensive and comparative data on the conduct of the policy of assimilation,
Comparing the Policy of Aboriginal Assimilation provides a series of accounts of the reasons given for the
Journal of Aboriginal Health • January 2004
policy in each period. These lead to an analysis of the
origins of the policy within the immigrant societies of
the British Commonwealth and the reasons for its persistence. In the end, the policy of assimilation is
shown to be primarily an expression of the racist and
colonial nature of the immigrant societies. Today the
Aboriginal societies are reasserting themselves. There
are some grounds for hope that a plural form of social
policy can be brought into effect that accommodates
the need to respect differences between the Aboriginal
and immigrant societies.
Andrew Armitage is a professor in the Department
of Social Work at the University of Victoria.
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