In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) issued its final report, including 94 ‘Calls to Action’ that aim to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of reconciliation. A number of these recommendations centre around health-related disparities, with the report calling upon the federal government to identify and close the gaps in health outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. Focusing on the historical roots of these inequalities, Maureen Lux’s Separate Beds is a timely study that sheds new light on Canada’s history of racially-segregated care.
Building on existing histories of tuberculosis, sanitoria and studies on the experiences of indigenous peoples from the Canadian north in southern hospitals, Separate Beds offers the first comprehensive examination of both Indian Health Services (IHS) and its hospitals. Lux...