Shifting Focus: Medicare, Canadian Historians, and New Research Directions

Abstract

This article urges Canadian historians to undertake research into the many neglected aspects of the origin and evolution of Canadian Medicare. As a visible component of civic ideology and national identity, Medicare illustrates not only the nation-building aspects of the welfare state but also the ongoing redefinition of federal/provincial/territorial relations, the power of region, class and gender, and the need for historical understanding of the roots of contemporary healthcare problems to aid politicians, bureaucrats and the public in making critical policy decisions now and in the future.