Multiplying and Dividing - The University of Auckland

Again, this was hardly a shocking demand. X-ray equipment had been installed at the NorwayHouse Hospital in 1931 or 1932 for just such a purpose, at the cost of $2,264.35. 43 Indeed,Indian affairs had required prospective residential school students to submit to a physicalexam by a qualified doctor for several decades, and in recent years that order had beenamended to include a chest x-ray. The doctor would subsequently fill out an entranceexamination report, and would recommend either rejection or acceptance based on the child’shealth. In practice this program was often ignored. Officials in Ottawa knew that manystudents gained entrance to residential schools without a legitimate exam, and many otherswere admitted with signed examinations of dubious quality (Milloy 1999:89). Each time thata circular was issued by Ottawa reminding church authorities that such examinations wererequired, replies immediately came back stating that it was impossible to comply with thedirective. Often, Ottawa took a conciliatory approach and allowed the schools to make someother arrangement. 44Finally, Corrigan called for a ban on admitting children from Island Lake to either St Joseph’sor the United Church’s residential school in Norway House. His rationale for refusing themadmittance was based on his perception of their lack of resistance to the disease. He noted:“the Island Lake people have very little immunity to tuberculosis and I do not believe theyshould be brought out and mixed with people who have practically 100% infection.” 45 Again,on the face of it this is sound reasoning. This directive is similar to that of another ofCorrigan’s predecessors at Norway House, Dr E. L. Stone, who wrote in 1925 that theisolated Island Lake Band was not “severely infected with tuberculosis,” and that the bestpolicy would be to leave them alone until such time as it would be necessary to interact withthem (1989:237-56). Despite Corrigan’s beliefs, however, it is not clear that the disease wasall that rare at Island Lake at the time. In December of 1941, the Reverend Arthur McKim, theUnited Church missionary at Island Lake, commented in a letter to his supervisor, JohnComrie, that “Many cases of T.B. die [at Island Lake] for lack of a little rest and nutritiousfood.” More directly, he observed that “two children were sent back [from the Norway HouseResidential School] for active T. B. who are around here now quite normal.” 46Ottawa accepted some, though apparently not all, of Corrigan’s recommendations, and passedthem along to the Oblates, along with the doctor’s original letter. On July 13 th R. A. Hoeyinformed Bishop Martin Lajeunesse that there would be no more than eighty pupils allowed inresidence at St Joseph’s for the upcoming 1943-44 academic year. 47 He also relayed theDepartment’s directive that no child was to be taken from Island Lake during that academicyear. There had been six such students at the school as of March of 1942. In reply, Lajeunesseagreed to follow these regulations, stating that “We are more than anybody else interested inthe physical welfare of the children and no doubt the Department will appreciate that since thelast four years we have a registered nurse in permanence to take care of the health of thechildren.” 48At the same time, the Bishop accused Corrigan of lying in his report. It is readily apparentthat the Oblates held a different view as to the cause of the underlying health problems amongthe Indians of the Norway House Agency. They pointed to problems inherent in theadministration of the schools and the provision of health care by Indian Health Services, boththe responsibility of the federal government. With regard to overcrowding, Principal Trudeauargued (as many others had before him) that with eighty students the per capita grant wasinadequate to run the school; with one hundred they were able to break even. 49 Should thefederal government increase the value of the grant, Trudeau argued, they would be able tomaintain a healthy number of students rather than filling the dormitories to overcapacity.123