When comparing indigenous health to non- indigenous health in Canada, the inequalities

and disparities are striking. To eliminate and improve the declining indigenous health, it is

crucial to understand the historical, political, social, and economic conditions that plagued the

indigenous health. In this essay, I will comment on the article written by MARY JANE LOGAN

MCCALLUM, “an Indigenous graduate student in a settler history department, a research

affiliate of the. Manitoba First Nations Centre for Aboriginal Health Research at the University

of Manitoba, and a professional researcher, writer, and educator of Indigenous history at the

University of Winnipeg.” Mary sees herself “a subject of Indigenous health” whose access to

medical care is determined by her status under the Indian Act. Unlike most of the research that

undertaken by white, western people who” othered” the indigenous people Mary’s research

about indigenous health is unique and genuine because it was written from the perspective of

indigenous people. Mary in her research argued that colonialism and racism are determinant

causes of the disparities between indigenous and no indigenous health in Canada She intended to

show “how terms such as starvation, experimentation,’ segregation, and trauma., and the

historians who use them, have sharpened the broader analytics of race and colonialism in

Canada as they operate in the field of Indigenous health history.”

The author used resources from indigenous health history books to support her argument

such as MaryEllen Kelm’s Colonizing Bodies, 7 Maureen Lux’s Medicine That Walks and

James Daschuk’s award-winning 2013 book Clearing the Plains. This literature brought about

four key arguments that are crucial to understand the history of indigenous health:’ first, that

Indigenous people are not ‘‘naturally unhealthy’’ or ‘‘susceptible’’ to disease. second, that
colonial policies can cause ill health, third, that Canadian medicine served colonialist agendas to

eliminate and assimilate indigenous people, and finally that science based modern medicine

never replaced indigenous medicine. ()).

The author used the key term starvation to illustrate how badly did racism and

colonialism harm the indigenous health. She provides evidence from Daschuk’s book, Clearing

the Plain in which phrases like “politics of starvation” was used to emphasise that starvation of

indigenous people was an intentional policy of the Canadian Pacific Railway and Prime Minister

John A. Macdonald (). Daschuk in his statement asserted that the death and ill health of

indigenous people were not natural but rather from the impact of imperialism and federal

policies. Unlike Daschuk who was reluctant to address the genocide, Robert Alexander Innes

was bold enough to ‘makes the crucial links between genocide, starvation policy, data on the

numbers of deaths, and their long-term impacts today.” Robert shows that up to thirty three

percent of Cowessess band’s members was lost due to starvation in the 1880. The Cowessess

band used the annuity pay lists to figure out a more accurate number of its members to resolve

the band’s land entitlement. According to the author, starvation policies did not only lead to the

direct death among indigenous people, but it also made them susceptible to disease and increased

the mortality rate from diseases like tuberculosis. Daschuk’s and Inn’s research are evidence that

“Indigenous people are not ‘‘naturally unhealthy’’ or ‘‘susceptible’’ to disease; second, that ill

health is not just a matter of germs but also colonial policies and practices of the Canadian

government.’
 The indigenous health history also pointed at the role of Canadian health science in

serving colonial policies. The key term “experimentation” is used in recent indigenous health

history to divulge the racist and unethical treatment practised against indigenous people.

Indigenous people were ideal subjects for experimentations which, were done in” coercive

conditions without consent or counselling”. Ian Mosby,in his article ‘‘Administering Colonial

Science” reveals how Indian residential schools and reserves were used by health scientists in the

1940s as ‘‘ready-made ‘laborator[ies]’ complete with ideal ‘‘experimental subjects”. In postwar

era, scientists investigated indigenous people’s malnutrition as a root cause of their”

dependency” neglecting the true cause of indigenous suffering ‘innate racial characteristics ()".

The widespread research and experimentations have helped to create an inequitable Canadian

health system. Moreover, racial segregation is another crucial factor in declining health among

aboriginal people. The author argues that “histories of isolation and segregation in Canadian

health care are normalized as naturally occurring or as a matter of jurisdiction, moral obligation,

welfare, or special philanthropy “. MCCALLUM presents Brian Sinclair as example of racial

segregation in Canada. Brian was ignored for thirty-four hours at emergency department in

Winnipeg before he died. Nevertheless, the investigation failed to consider racism as a

preventable cause of his death. Maureen K. Lux in her book “Separate Beds” underscoring the

role of Indian hospitals as ‘‘bricks and mortar’’ sites of segregation, isolation”. Laurie Meijer

Drees, Healing Histories share aboriginal people’s stories that show that indicate that” traditional

healing practices were not subsumed and that different understandings of medicine were

practised at ihs hospitals.”

 MCCALLUM addresses the impact of histories of colonisation on indigenous health and

how the historical trauma was interpreted through literature. In Indigenous health research, the

concept referred to” quantitative studies of contemporary drug use, sexual abuse, family

breakdown, and the mental health of Indigenous people, while in Indigenous historical research

the term is applied when sympathizing about the past’s hypothesized impact on Indigenous

people today “(), MCCALLUM pointed to the work of American Indian studies scholar Dian

Million and anthropologist Krista Maxwell who wrote about the concept of historical trauma.

She also referred to important texts from the 1980s and 1990s, including Maria Yellow Horse

Brave Heart and Lemyra DeBruyn’s that “linked trauma theory to Indigenous historical contexts,

especially Indian residential school”