The main theme in these readings is the sense of activism that swept the Canadian population in the early 20th century. Belshaw mentions that the middle-class of Canadian society began adopting the idea of a religious duty to live and promote a lifestyle that would abide by Christian doctrine.1 The population seemed to want to care for those not as well off in life. One of the main issues facing the country was poor health. This problem was especially apparent in the Aboriginal population, as they suffered from much higher rates of tuberculosis than the rest of the country. The government used this new sense of activism in the populace to play politics by appearing the help the Aboriginal peoples.2 The government set up special hospitals for Aboriginal peoples across the country with the purpose of stemming the tuberculosis problem as well as educating them on how to ‘care’ for themselves. When World War I broke out there was a unique situation at the time where Aboriginal girls were given a white woman’s education. A handful of Aboriginal women were trained as nurses out of desperation from the labour shortage.3 The war also fit into the new sense of activism sweeping the country. Many found the war as a test for the population as an evil challenge that their goodness must triumph over.4 The moral purity of the population was at stake, and these new activists would do whatever they would have to to stop that from happening. Whether it be fighting the war, temperance, or helping the sick Aboriginal population. The new religiously driven moral ethic of the Canadian middle-class turned a generation of people into activists to lobby the government for what they believed in.5

 

Sources

  1. John D. Belshaw, Canadian History: Post-Confederation, Vancouver: BCCampus, 2015.
  1. Lux, “Care for the ‘Racially Careless’: Indian Hospitals in the Canadian West, 1920s-1950s,” Canadian Historical Review, 91 (2010): 407-34
  1. Toman, Cynthia. “My chance has come at last!”: The Weston Hospital, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and Indian Nurses in Canada, 1917-1929.” Native Studies Review 19, no. 2 (December 2010): 95-119.
  1. Wilson, Fay.. “Booze, Temperance, and Soldiers on the Home Front.” Canadian Military History 25, no. 1 (2016): 1.
  1. Hunt, “Measuring Morals: The Beginnings of the Social Survey Movement in Canada, 1913-1917, Social History, 35, 69 (2002): 171-194.