Part two: Changing patterns of health and sickness among the Cree‐Ojibwa of northwestern Ontario

Abstract

T. Kue Young, M. D.INTRODUCTIONNorthwestern Ontario is a sparsely populated region offorests, lakes and rivers in the Canadian Shield. About 20percent of the region's population are native Indians belong-ing to two culturally related groups—the Northern Ojibwaand the Swampy Cree, the majority of whom still live inisolated and scattered communities.Traditionally a hunting and fishing culture, the Indians ofthe region have been in contact with the advancing Euro-Canadian society since the late seventeenth century. Theearly explorers and fur traders were followed by mission-aries, government officials, and loggers and miners. Theprocess of acculturation has proceeded at varying pacewithin the region, but rapid social changes since the SecondWorld War have fundamentally altered the lifestyle of thepeople (Dunning 1959, Bishop 1974).Organized health services for the region's Indians, aresponsibility of the Canadian federal government, are ofrelatively recent vintage. Prior to the Second World War, theonly modern health services came in the form of the annualvisit by a physician attached to the government Treaty party.In the southern fringes of the region, the services ofphysicians in private practice in the predominantly whitetowns were accessible to Indians in nearby reserves. In 1949Downloaded by [University of Toronto Libraries] at 09:17 26 April 2013