The Fight Against First Nations Tuberculosis in Manitoba: 1890 - 1950

Abstract

From the 1880s to the 1950s tuberculosis was the dominant threat to the health of the First Nations of Manitoba.  During that span, efforts to combat this disease varied greatly.  Initially, the federal government provided only minimal assistance, including limited medical and food support for a portion of the province’s First Nations communities.  As time passed, the province stepped up in to carry out case-finding in selected communities deemed to be a direct threat to non-Native citizens.  A very few with active disease were sent to provincial tuberculosis facilities, with treatment subsidised by Ottawa.

Following 1937, Ottawa began to release increasing amounts of funds for case-finding and, for the first time, established several tuberculosis treatment facilities for the use of Aboriginal people.  As a result, the tuberculosis mortality rate among the province’s First Nations people began to plummet.  This trend accelerated with the adoption of innovations in diagnosis and treatment during the 1940s and beyond.

This research documents the major shifts in this history of tuberculosis treatment, from the period of neglect to the period in which the disease at last came under control.

Content

The Fight Against First Nations Tuberculosis in Manitoba 1890 - 1950 Conference Poster

Researchers