The Women Behind Medicare

OPEN LETTER TO: Roy Romanow, Commissioner The Future of Health Care in Canada Box 160 Saskatoon, SK S7K 3K4

I am very disappointed that you aren't prepared to recognize clean air, unpolluted water and certified organic food as the foundation of our national medicare system.

I was a very strong supporter of Premier Tommy Douglas and am proud of the fact that I had an opportunity to vote "for" the first health district established at Swift Current, Saskatchewan in 1947. Tommy Douglas provided the leadership for medicare and did an excellent job of it. But in reality, the demand for medicare came from the pioneer women on the isolated homesteads (farms) all over rural Saskatchewan shortly after Saskatchewan became a province.

It is unfortunate the Saskatchewan education system teaches very little about the history of the farm movement in this province and particularly the accomplishments of farm women in the promotion of medicare, prohibition and obtaining the right to vote.

Many of the pioneer families were large. It was not unusual to have 10 children. Imagine living 20 miles from town in the wintertime with sick children. Many families in the early years did not even have a telephone. There wasn't any power or natural gas either just coal and wood for heat. If there was a blizzard (and some of them lasted three or four days when it was -30 to -40 F), the roads were blocked and travel was almost impossible even with the horse and sleigh. The pioneer woman was doctor, nurse, housewife and more.

Rural women established homemaker clubs and every church had a women's auxiliary. The History of Saskatchewan by J.F.C. Wright reports that in 1914 homemaker clubs had a clothing drive for impoverished families, as the first World War had started and there was a shortage of children's clothing. The book also reports that the Saskatchewan Grain Growers (descendant of the Territorial Grain Growers) established a women's section in 1914 under the leadership of Violet McNaughton. Mrs. McNaughton led the campaign for a vote for Saskatchewan women. On March 14, 1916, the Saskatchewan legislature granted Saskatchewan women the right to vote in provincial elections on an equal basis with men.

When delivering grain to their local elevator, some pioneer husbands in the early pioneer years would drink and party for two or three days and run out of money before they bought the groceries. While this was happening, the homesteader's wife was home looking after the children, milking the cows, feeding the livestock, and carrying coal, wood and water to the house.

Nellie McClung was a very persuasive women's leader, and with the help of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Women's Section of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers Association, persuaded the Saskatchewan government to pass the Temperance Act on March 10, 1917.

Rural municipalities developed medical and hospital programs in the 1930s. However, the drive for a provincial medicare plan continued and was carried on by the Farmer's Union of Canada, Saskatchewan Section, and its descendant, the Saskatchewan Farmer's Union. Both were family organizations and usually had about the same number of men and women delegates.

This is the drive for medicare that Tommy Douglas led when he was elected in 1944 and brought in the first health district in the Swift Current area in 1947 and medicare in 1962. In the early pioneer years there were far more women on Saskatchewan homesteads than in cities, towns and villages. History shows they made some great accomplishments.

I would suggest that if you want to get credit for saving the national medicare program, you should consult and attempt to get the support of both rural and urban women. They have been the natural health-care providers for centuries, and I believe they have the determination to make the program work provincially and nationally. Furthermore and this is an important point they have historically understand the importance of pure unpolluted water, certified organic food and a clean environment to national health care.