ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the political aspects of the history. It discusses obstetric policy as one aspect of the penetration of southern institutions and controls into the lives of people living in the Canadian North. The chapter explores the historical and political background to the changes in obstetric policies. It utilizes archival data, government reports and statistics on the place of birth, plus transcripts of the community meetings and material from a series of interviews with physicians, nurses, administrators and Inuit women. The chapter argues that the displacement of the traditional Inuit way of birth and the assumption of medical control over childbirth are not isolated phenomena, but part and parcel of the wider history of Northern health care and Northern politics. Obstetric policies in the Keewatin delineate struggle in two arenas; first, the politics of North-South colonial relationships; second, the politics surrounding demands by women for midwifery care in childbirth.
