Maureen K. Lux

Separate Beds is the shocking story of Canada’s system of segregated health care. Operated by the same bureaucracy that was expanding health care opportunities for most Canadians, the “Indian Hospitals” were underfunded, understaffed, overcrowded, and rife with coercion and medical experimentation. Established to keep the Aboriginal tuberculosis population isolated, they became a means of ensuring that other Canadians need not share access to modern hospitals with Aboriginal patients.

Tracing the history of the system from its fragmentary origins to its gradual collapse, Maureen K. Lux describes the arbitrary and contradictory policies that governed the “Indian Hospitals,” the experiences of patients and staff, and the vital grassroots activism that pressed the federal government to acknowledge its treaty obligations.

A disturbing look at the dark side of the liberal welfare state, Separate Beds reveals a history of racism and negligence in health care for Canada’s First Nations that should never be forgotten.

Awards

• 2017 Aboriginal History Book Prize awarded by the Canadian Historical Association winner
• 2017 Jason A. Hannah Medal awarded by The Royal Society of Canada winn

Reviews
"In painstaking research and matter-of-fact reportage, Associate Professor Lux of Brock University documents Canadian apartheid. Separate Beds: A History of Indian Hospitals In Canada is a riveting and extraordinary account of mistreatment of citizens." — Tom Korski, Blacklocks Reporter, Saturday, June 4, 2016

‘Lux’s detailed account will surely be of interest to scholars of Aboriginal history and health care as well as to the people interested in the development of Indian hospitals in Canada.’ — Joanne DeCosse, Canada’s History October-November 2016

‘This is a must read for anyone interested in the history of Canadian Healthcare, Aboriginal health and treaty rights.’ — Velvet Maud, The Canadian Journal of Native Studies vol 36:02:2016

Additional Information
288 pages | 6.00" x 8.98" | Paperback