Charles Camsell Hospital marks 50 years

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The Charles Camsell Hospital recently commemorated 50 years of service provided to Aboriginal people from the Foothills Region of Alberta and the Yukon and Northwest Territories who suffered with tuberculosis.

A full two-day program helped staff, friends, former patients and supporters celebrate the July 17-18 anniversary. Native spirituality, entertainment and healing were the focus of the activities. From the Native pipe ceremony, traditional prayers and a traditional feast to performances by the White Braid Society, the commemorative celebrations were enjoyed by all.

Guest speaker Mini Freeman, an Eastern Inuit, told of her personal experiences with hospitalization in her address entitled Leaving Home.

A small woman, dressed in a cool, white traditional outfit, Freeman was hidden behind the wooden lectern, under the shelter of a huge tent pitched on the lawns of the original Charles Camsell building site. Poised between the flags of Canada and Britain, she gave a moving account of the issues surrounding Natives who were forced, due to TB, to leave their families and communities in order to be treated at the Camsell.

Freeman shared her memories of travelling as a translator in hostels and hospitals across Canada, before settling in Edmonton. She told about the impact of the TB epidemic on Inuit people.

"Leaving home to get better was very hard," she said.

Tears flowed, during Freeman's recollection of the past, as she told of the pain experienced by women who had to leave their husbands and children for indefinite lengths of time. She noted that most families who survived at home did so because of the Inuit tradition of sharing food.

Although the history of TB among Inuit and Indians is well known today, Freeeman painted a picture with her well-chosen words to give her audience an understanding of what kind of conditions Inuits lived in during the 1950s, including tents, makeshift tents and cardboard.

Freeman told the crowd what it was like for sick Inuit to leave home and then be treated in a foreign environment that could only be described as a regimental, military style institution.

Overall, the 50th Commemorative of the hospital went well, said co-ordinating committee member Cecile Gladu

"It was really good to see so many people attend. There were over 300 former staff alone, not to mention the family and friends that came along," Gladue said.