Indian hospital facts for kids

The Indian hospitals were special hospitals in Canada. They were built for Indigenous peoples and kept them separate from other patients. These hospitals started in the late 1800s and closed by the late 1900s.

At first, they were mostly for people with tuberculosis, a serious lung disease. Health officials were worried that "Indian TB" would spread to non-Indigenous people. Many of these hospitals were on Indian reserves, which are lands set aside for Indigenous communities. Others were in nearby cities.

History of Indian Hospitals

Indigenous people in Canada faced many diseases brought by European settlers, like tuberculosis, smallpox, and influenza. These diseases greatly reduced their population. Tuberculosis spread more slowly but became a huge problem. By 1950, about one in five Inuit people were infected.

Early Hospitals and Churches

Early hospitals for First Nations were often run by churches. This was similar to how Indian residential schools were run. For example, the Grey Nuns opened a hospital on the Blood reserve in Alberta in 1893. The Anglican Church of Canada started one on the nearby Blackfoot reserve in 1896. Some hospitals for settlers also had special "Indian annexes" or "wards" for Indigenous patients, keeping them separate.

Over time, the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs took over these hospitals from the churches.

A National Plan for Health

In 1946, the new federal Department of National Health and Welfare took charge of building and running Indian hospitals. This was part of a big plan after the Second World War. The government started a large effort to control tuberculosis in northern communities. This included checking people for the disease and sometimes forcing infected people to leave their homes.

The government decided not to build hospitals in the North. Instead, they moved infected people to hospitals in southern Canada. Several new sanatoriums, called Indian Hospitals, opened in Ontario and Quebec. One example is the Moose Factory Indian Hospital, which opened in 1949. The first government-run Indian Hospital was the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton. It opened in 1946 in a building that used to be an Indian residential school. By 1960, there were 22 federally funded Indian hospitals. The cost of care in these hospitals was often about half of what non-Indigenous patients received.

Ships for Patients

Special ships were used to carry tuberculosis patients from Northern Canada to these sanatoriums. One ship, the CGS C.D. Howe, was used from 1950 to 1969. It had 30 beds for Inuit patients and medical facilities separate from the crew. These ships had x-ray machines to diagnose infections. Patients were sometimes marked on their hand with a number and their test results.

Settler doctors at the time mistakenly believed that "Indian TB" was a special, dangerous type of tuberculosis. They did not understand that Indigenous people had less natural protection against diseases brought by settlers. Some also thought Inuit people were "racially careless" about their health.

A big wave of the disease started in 1952. Doctors blamed it on crowded living conditions in Inuit communities, often after the Canadian government had forced them to move. They also pointed to limited food supplies. Tuberculosis spread easily among Inuit and First Nations people. This was especially true in Canadian Indian residential schools, where healthy children were often exposed to sick children in poor conditions. In some schools, up to 80% of children were infected.

By 1953, the death rate from TB among Inuit was very high, much higher than in southern communities. It's thought that by 1955, almost 1,000 Inuit had been taken to southern Canada for treatment. In 1953, it even became a crime for an Indigenous person to refuse treatment or leave a hospital before being discharged. Patients who tried to go home were arrested.

A study in 1983 found that in the 1950s, tuberculosis rates among Inuit were probably the highest in the world for the 20th century. Indian hospitals began closing in the late 1960s. All were closed or changed to regular hospitals by 1981.

Life in the Hospitals

Getting Diagnosed

Being told they had to leave their homes for a hospital in the South was very scary for many patients. Many were taken away even if they didn't feel sick. They often didn't know where they were going or if they would ever return. This caused a lot of fear. Some Inuit who knew they were sick would hide when the hospital boat arrived. Helicopters were sometimes used to find them and bring them to the boat for examination.

The skin test for TB was not always reliable. So, diagnostic ships started using chest x-rays more often. This meant children and adults received yearly doses of radiation for many years.

In 1933, doctors at the Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital began testing an experimental vaccine on Indigenous children. This vaccine was later made mandatory across Canada by 1954.

Being Taken Away

If an Indigenous person was diagnosed with tuberculosis, they were rarely allowed to go home until they were cured. People being taken away could not go ashore to say goodbye to their families. Children were often adopted by neighbors or family members in Inuit communities.

Children, even babies, were taken from their parents. Men and women were forced to leave their families behind. This often left families without a father to hunt or a mother to care for children. People taken to hospitals felt great sadness, knowing their families would struggle without them.

Fear of being taken away made many people avoid getting tested. Some former patients say they were sent to sanatoriums even if they didn't actually have TB. Some researchers agree, suggesting that a TB diagnosis was sometimes used to control Indigenous people. Between 1953 and 1961, about 5,240 Inuit were removed from their communities. This was a large number, considering the total population of the Eastern Arctic was about 11,500.

In one hospital in Hamilton, Ontario, Inuit patients carved and sold soapstone art. The hospital took a 30% cut of their sales. Some researchers believe hospitals kept patients for years to get more government funding or for medical experiments. The average stay in a sanatorium could be very long, sometimes over a year.

Inside the Hospitals

Many patients were sent to hospitals where staff spoke only English or French. This made it hard to communicate. Some hospitals used identification numbers, like the disc number system, instead of patients' names.

It was hard for these hospitals to find enough qualified staff because of low pay and isolated locations. These hospitals also received less money than hospitals for non-Indigenous communities. Even as TB treatments improved for non-Indigenous patients, these new methods were not always used in Indian hospitals.

Patients often reported feeling depressed. They were given little information about their treatment or their rights. Some patients said they were threatened and told not to talk about their experiences.

At least one Indian hospital, the Fort William Sanatorium, also served as a residential school. Children with tuberculosis received education there. Survivors from Fort William tried to be included in the Residential Schools Settlement, but they were denied.

Leaving or Dying

Records were often poorly kept. People's names were sometimes written incorrectly. This meant cured patients might be sent to the wrong area, or families of dead patients might not be told. Many patients who returned home found it hard to fit back into their culture. They had forgotten skills and languages. There are even reports of babies being switched at birth at the Norway House hospital.

Many who died in treatment were buried in unmarked graves. Their bodies were often not returned to their families. It's estimated that 700-800 people are missing or their bodies were not returned. A former student from a nearby residential school remembers digging graves for TB victims from the Charles Camsell Hospital.

Lasting Impact

Many northern communities still have high rates of tuberculosis today. In some cases, TB rates are 50% higher for Inuit people compared to southern Canada. In Nunavut, the rates are much higher for Inuit than for non-Indigenous people.

Like with the Indian residential schools, many families are still looking for answers about loved ones who were in Indian hospitals. They are searching for grave sites. In 2021, searches began at Charles Camsell, a former hospital and school, for unmarked graves.

Art created by patients in the Hamilton sanatorium has been collected by the Art Gallery of Hamilton. These soapstone carvings show the creativity of the patients during a difficult time.

Apology and Lawsuit

The Canadian government has not yet formally apologized for the forced confinement of Inuit people in these hospitals. However, government officials have started meeting with Inuit representatives to discuss access to old documents. A federal program called Nanilavut has been researching since 2008. It has found records for over 4,500 people who were taken away.

In October 2018, there were talks about a future federal apology for the Indian hospital system. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an apology on March 8, 2019. He announced that the Nanilavut initiative would help Inuit find the graves of family members who died in southern hospitals.

In January 2018, a large lawsuit was filed against the Canadian government. It seeks money for victims of Indian hospitals and their families. The lawsuit claims inadequate care, difficult experiences, and long-term negative health and mental impacts from the hospitals.

Where Were They?

Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital

Many hospitals were run by the Department of National Health and Welfare across Canada. Some of these include:

The lawsuit mentions 29 hospitals, including:

Notable Patients

Kenojuak Ashevak

Many Inuit artists and important figures were confined in these hospitals, including:

• Kenojuak Ashevak, a famous artist, from 1952 to 1955.
• Oviloo Tunnillie, an artist, sent away as a child.
• Mosha Michael, confined in childhood.
• Jack Anawak, a politician whose mother was removed from her family.
• Other artists whose soapstone carvings were collected by museums, like Guy Mamatiaq and Mikisiti Saila.
• Abe Okpik, a hunter and author, who later helped replace disc numbers with names for Inuit people.

In Books and Movies

The experiences of people in Indian hospitals have been shown in cultural works:

• The Necessities of Life, a 2008 film, tells the story of an evacuee sent to a sanatorium in Quebec City.
• Camsell, a 2016 documentary about the Charles Camsell Hospital.