Footprints 2004:
Phone: (780) 455-2700Fax
(780) 455-7639
Email: edwind@ammsa.com
Phone: (780) 455-2700
Fax
(780) 455-7639Email: edwind@ammsa.com
[Footprints] Jean Goodwill:
Health care worker encouraged youth
Cheryl Petten
When people speak about Jean Goodwill, word like "trailblazer"
and "role model" are bound to come up. Other words
you are likely to hear are "dedicated", "courageous"
and "healer."
Goodwill was born Jean Cuthand
on Little Pine First Nation in Saskatchewan in 1928. Her mother
died of tuberculosis shortly after Goodwill was born, and she
was raised by her mother's sister Harriet Cuthand and her husband
Jose.
Many of Goodwill's teenaged years were spent in a sanatorium
in Prince Albert, north of Saskatoon, where she was sent after
she too contracted tuberculosis.
After recovering from her illness, Goodwill decided to pursue
a career in nursing. Her decision was partly influenced by the
time she spent in the sanatorium, but was also a result of a
childhood spent observing Harriet Cuthand, who was both a midwife
and a medicine woman.
Goodwill studied at the Holy Family Hospital in Prince Albert
and graduated in 1954-the first Aboriginal person in Saskatchewan
and one of the first in the country to become a registered nurse.
Goodwill worked at the Indian Hospital in Fort Qu'Appelle in
southern Saskatchewan, then moved to La Ronge in the far north
where she was in charge of the nursing station. The nearest doctor
was miles away in Prince Albert, and responsibility to provide
health care for the community fell to Goodwill and a nurses'
aide. Goodwill delivered dozens of babies during her first year
there. She also developed an impressive collection of fishhooks,
which she added to every time she had to remove one that had
become embedded in a child or an American tourist and once, even
in a dog.
The frontline of health care provision in La Ronge was stressful
and when she left, she worked as a nurse in the King Edward VII
Memorial Hospital in Bermuda. While such a move likely would
have been seen as extraordinary at that time, Goodwill came from
a family where for generations members had routinely travelled
throughout Canada and the U.S. and such explorations of the world
were common and not to be feared.
When she returned to Canada, she rededicated herself to Aboriginal
issues. She moved to Winnipeg, where she was executive director
of the friendship centre. And she became involved in the World
Council of Indigenous People, broadening her focus and working
to improve the health of Indigenous people in Canada and beyond.
Her work as a nurse gave Goodwill a first-hand look at the health
conditions in First Nation communities, and many of the problems
she saw she blamed on the poverty people were forced to live
in. She realized that as a nurse, she could help people deal
with the effects of that poverty, but the poverty would still
remain. What was needed, she knew, were changes to the way the
government addressed the problem. That was how her career in
the public service began.
She married Ken Goodwill in 1965 and the following year they
moved to Ottawa. The next year, she began working within the
federal government.
Goodwill's career in the public service included positions within
the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Secretary
of State and the Department of National Health and Welfare. Eventually,
she was appointed as a special advisory to then-health minister
Monique Begin, charged with helping the minister and First Nations
work together to address health problems within Indian communities.
Goodwill worked within the public service for two decades, during
which time she greatly improved relations between the federal
government and Aboriginal people, and played a role in the development
of a number of programs, including the Native Alcohol and Drug
Abuse Program.
Her work on behalf of Canada's Aboriginal people went beyond
just being a job. She was also involved in getting a number of
organizations launched, including the Native Women's Association
of Canada, and was president of the Canadian Society for Circumpolar
Health.
She was also a member of the board of directors for the Canadian
Public Health Association and during her time with the association
worked to bring more attention to the health issues faced by
Aboriginal people. She chaired the association's Aboriginal working
group, and also chaired its Aboriginal youth committee, which
looked at ways to encourage Aboriginal youth to choose careers
in health care.
Goodwill dedicated much of her time to increasing the number
of Aboriginal people working as health care professionals. She
was a founding member of the Aboriginal Nurses Association of
Canada, created in 1975 under the name Registered Nurses of Canadian
Indian Ancestry. She also helped develop an Indian and Inuit
access program to nursing at the University of Saskatchewan and
the health sciences program at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated
College (SIFC), now the First Nations University of Canada, and
acted as department head for the SIFC's Indian health studies
program.
Goodwill also found the time to write four books, including a
profile of Indian and Inuit nurses of Canada, and a biography
of her father, John Tootoosis, a Cree leader from Poundmaker
First Nation in Saskatchewan who worked to have First Nations
land and treaty rights recognized by the federal government.
Even after she and her husband retired to his home community
of Standing Buffalo First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, Goodwill
continued her efforts to improve the lives of Aboriginal people,
teaching Aboriginal health at SIFC and sitting on the board of
the Fort Qu'Appelle Indian Hospital.
The health problems that caused her such difficulty at the beginning
of her life resurfaced. The tuberculosis returned, followed by
leukemia. Goodwill died in the early morning of Aug. 25, 1997
at the age of 69.
All of Goodwill's efforts did not go unnoticed. In 1981 the Manitoba
Indian Nurses Association created the Jean Goodwill Award, to
be given to members in recognition of outstanding contributions
to the health care of Native people. Goodwill herself was the
recipient of the first award.
In 1986, Goodwill received an honorary doctorate of law from
Queen's University and in 1991, she was appointed to the Order
of Canada in recognition of her work to improve the health of
Canada's Aboriginal people.
In 1994, she received a National Aboriginal Achievement Award
in the health services category. And in 2000, three years after
her death, Goodwill was named recipient of the Ron Draper Health
Promotion Award, given out by the Canadian Public Health Association.
The award recognizes those who have made a significant contribution
to health promotion.
The Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada and the Baxter Corporation
awards two scholarships of $5,000 in Goodwill's name each year.
The scholarships, given to Inuit and/or Indian nursing students,
ensure that, for generations to come, Goodwill's name will be
associated with efforts to encourage Aboriginal youth to take
up health-care careers.