Babies for the Nation

Denyse Baillargeon, W. Donald Wilson

Description

Described by some as a “necropolis for babies,” the province of Quebec in the early twentieth century recorded infant mortality rates, particularly among French-speaking Catholics, that were among the highest in the Western world. This “bleeding of the nation” gave birth to a vast movement for child welfare that paved the way for a medicalization of childbearing.

In Babies for the Nation, basing her analysis on extensive documentary research and more than fifty interviews with mothers, Denyse Baillargeon sets out to understand how doctors were able to convince women to consult them, and why mothers chose to follow their advice. Her analysis considers the medical discourse of the time, the development of free services made available to mothers between 1910 and 1970, and how mothers used these services.

Showing the variety of social actors involved in this process (doctors, nurses, women’s groups, members of the clergy, private enterprise, the state, and the mothers themselves), this study delineates the alliances and the conflicts that arose between them in a complex phenomenon that profoundly changed the nature of childbearing in Quebec.

Un Québec en mal d’enfants: La médicalisation de la maternité 1910—1970 was awarded the Clio-Québec Prize, the Lionel Groulx-Yves-Saint-Germain Prize, and the Jean-Charles-Falardeau Prize. This translation by W. Donald Wilson brings this important book to a new readership.

Sujets

• Medicine
• History
• Médecine

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 04 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554581092
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Babies for the Nation
STUDIES IN CHILDHOOD AND FAMILY IN CANADA
Studies in Childhood and Family in Canada is a multidisciplinary series devoted to new perspectives on these subjects as they evolve. The series features studies that focus on the intersections of age, class, race, gender and region as they contribute to a Canadian understanding of childhood and family, both historically and currently.
Series Editor
Cynthia Comacchio
Department of History
Wilfrid Laurier University
Manuscripts to be sent to
Brian Henderson, Director
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
75 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3C5
Babies for the Nation
The Medicalization of Motherhood in Quebec 1910-1970
Denyse Baillargeon
Translated by W. Donald Wilson
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Program using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Baillargeon, Denyse, 1954-
Babies for the nation : the medicalization of motherhood in Quebec, 1910-1970 / Denyse Baillargeon ; translated by W. Donald Wilson.
Translation of: Un Qu bec en mal d enfants (Studies in Childhood and Family in Canada series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-55458-058-3
1. Obstetrics-Social aspects-Qu bec (Province)-History-20th century. 2. Social control-Qu bec (Province)-History-20th century. 3. Maternal health services-Qu bec (Province)-History-20th century. 4. Newborn infants-Qu bec (Province)-Care-History-20th century. 5. Newborn infants-Qu bec (Province)-Mortality-History-20th century. 6. Child care-Qu bec (Province)-History-20th century. I. Wilson, W. Donald, 1938-II. Title.
RG963.C32Q8 2009 362.198 2009714 C2008-907641-9
Cover photo by Rosemarie Gearhart/iStockphoto. Cover inset photo courtesy Archives de la Ville de Montr al, Z-96-4. Cover design by HandsDesign.ca. Text design by Kathe Gray Design.
French edition, Un Qu bec en mal d enfants 2004 Les ditions du Remue-M nage
English translation 2009 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo, Ontario, Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca
This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo. It is made from 100% post-consumer fibre, processed chlorine free, and manufactured using bio-gas energy.
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors or omissions called to the publisher s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Contents
List of Tables
List of Acronyms
Acknowledgements
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 A Bad Mother Called Quebec
An Early Death
Dying While Giving Life
CHAPTER 2 A Very National Infant Mortality Rate
The Nation in Peril, 1910-1940
A National Dearth of Children, 1940-1970
CHAPTER 3 Let Us Have the Mother and the Child Is Ours
The Ignorance of Mothers
Teach Over and Over
CHAPTER 4 A School for Mothers
Clinics for Newborns
Home Care
The Victorian Order of Nurses
The Nurses from the Met
The Assistance maternelle
Services for Mothers Outside the Major Centres
Prenatal Clinics
Public Lectures and the Distribution of Documents
CHAPTER 5 Bitter Struggles
All for One
General Practitioners and Public Health Officials
General Practitioners and the Assistance maternelle de Montr al
Doctors and Nurses
Physicians and Maternalist Feminists
Church and State
CHAPTER 6 The Quebec Mother and Child
Care for Expectant Women
Care for Babies
To Read While Caring for Baby
Relations with Doctors and Nurses
Epilogue: To Have or Not to Have
Appendix 1: Sources
Appendix 2: Infant Mortality Rates, Canada and the Provinces, 1926-1965
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Tables
TABLE 1
Average annual infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births by five-year period for Canada, Quebec, and Ontario from 1921 to 1965, and the rates for 1966-68
TABLE 2
Average annual infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births by five-year period, showing the overall rate for Quebec by rural and urban areas, and for Montreal, 1911-1963
TABLE 3
Average annual infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births by five-year period by ethno-religious group, Montreal, 1901-1950
TABLE 4
Annual infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births by five-year period by health district, Montreal, 1950, 1960, and 1971
TABLE 5
Average annual infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births, legitimate and illegitimate, in Montreal, by five-year period, 1915-1964
TABLE 6
Evolution of the causes of infant mortality in Quebec (as a percentage) by groups of causes, 1926-1960
TABLE 7
Overall infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) and of deaths from diarrhoea, in Montreal, 1920-1969
TABLE 8
Maternal mortality rates (per 1,000 live births) by five-year period for Canada, Quebec, and Ontario, 1921-1970
TABLE 9
Average annual rates of births in institutions by five-year period, Canada, Quebec, and Ontario, 1926-1965
TABLE 10
Decade in which respondents married
TABLE 11
Husbands occupations
TABLE 12
Number of first- and last-borns by decade
TABLE 13
Family size
TABLE 14
Means and methods of contraception
TABLE 15
Infant mortality rates (per 1,000 live births) for Canada and the provinces, 1926-1965
List of Acronyms
AC
Archives of Centraide
AcMed
L Action m dicale
AM-AC
Archdiocese of Montreal, Archives of the Chancery
AMM
Assistance Maternelle de Montr al
AMM-A
Archives of the Assistance maternelle de Montr al
APFM
Association pour la planification familiale de Montr al
BAnQ
Biblioth que et Archives nationales du Qu bec
BAnQM
Biblioth que et Archives nationales du Qu bec in Montr al
BAnQQ
Biblioth que et Archives nationales du Qu bec in Quebec City
BHPQ
Board of Health of the Province of Quebec
BHPQ-AR
Board of Health of the Province of Quebec, Annual Report
BHPQ-M
Board of Health of the Province of Quebec Minutes
BH
Bulletin d hygi ne
BP
La Bonne Parole
BS
Bulletin sanitaire
BSHMP
Bulletin de la Soci t d hygi ne et de m decine pr ventive de la Province de Qu bec
CBMH/BCHM
Canadian Bulletin of Medical History/Bulletin canadien d histoire de la m decine
CCCW
Canadian Council on Child Welfare
CCF
Cooperative Commonwealth Federation
CCWN
Canadian Child Welfare News
CFW
Canadian Family Welfare
CHU
County Health Unit
CJPH
Canadian Journal of Public Health
CPF
Centre de planification familiale de Montr al
CPHJ
Canadian Public Health Journal
CSF
Conseil Sup rieur de la Famille
FHI
F d ration d hygi ne infantile
FNSJB
F d ration nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste
FOCCF
F d ration des oeuvres de charit canadiennes-fran aises
GMCF
La Garde-malade canadienne-fran aise
LAC
Library and Archives Canada
M-A
City of Montreal Archives
MDH
City of Montreal Department of Health
MDH-AR
City of Montreal Department of Health, Annual Reportt
MFSW
Ministry of the Family and Social Welfare (Quebec)
MH
Ministry of Health (Quebec)
MH-AR
Ministry of Health (Quebec), Annual Report
MLCW
Montreal Local Council of Women
MLIC
Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. (the Met )
MLIC-A
Archives of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
MSA
Ministry of Social Affairs (Quebec)
PHJ
Public Health Journal
PHS
Provincial Health Services
PHS-AR
Provincial Health Services, Annual Report
SHMP
Soci t d hygi ne et de m decine pr ventive de la Province de Qu bec
UMC
L Union m dicale du Canada
UQAM
Universit du Qu bec Montr al
VON
Victorian Order of Nurses
VON-A
Archives of the Victorian Order of Nurse
Acknowledgements
I t has taken me over ten years to complete this book, so my debts are numerous and varied. I wish first of all to thank those who have assisted me in my research throughout so many years: Marie-Jos e Blais, my collaborator from the outset, who conducted and transcribed the first series of interviews used in this book and who also generously made those she carried out for her Master s thesis available to me; Suzanne Commend and Karine H bert, who, among other things, analyzed various archives and wrote reading and research reports; Nathalie Pilon, who, while pregnant, se