Health and the health care delivery system : the Micmac in Nova Scotia

Abstract

This thesis examines the history of medical care and the development of the health care delivery system among the Micmac in Nova Scotia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It examines the relationship of the medical profession to the state and, through this examination, the relationship of the Micmac to the state. This thesis examines a broad range of topics, including the struggle of medical orthodoxy to professionalize, the role of the Micmac in this struggle and the role of the state and philanthropic capitalism in advancing the status of orthodoxy. The thesis then examines the response of the medical profession to later challenges to its authority.

These interrelationships grow out of an analysis of varied source materials. Petitions reveal much about the extent and nature of nineteenth century medical attendance. At the same time, these petitions offer numerous insights into the dynamics within the medical marketplace. Tremendous use is made of government reports and publications because of the pervasive concern with the role of the state. As well, newspaper accounts have been utilized to give voice to some of the arguments presented and add colour.

This thesis makes a contribution to our collective understanding of the medical profession in Nova Scotia and adds another dimension to the history of the Micmac and their relationship with the state. In doing so, it demonstrates how change within the medical profession and the provision of medical care to the Micmac was a negotiated process and how the Micmac were active participants in their own history.