A Nun from Québec, a Métisse from Good Hope, and a Gwich’in from Peels River
Three Women’s Stories of Sickness in the Mackenzie District
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rsth.37602Keywords:
Grey Nuns, Mackenzie Delta, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Canada, Arctic, nineteenth century, tuberculosis, health careAbstract
This article outlines the stories of three women religious who lived and worked in the McKenzie Delta, in the Arctic region of the far north of Canada, in the nineteenth century. Their service took place in the context of the spread of tuberculosis. Close archival work details their response to the illness and death around them, and the suffering it entailed. An Appendix is included to give indication of the differences between the work of the missionary sisters and the physicans in the paid employ of either the North-west Mounted police or the federal government.
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