Amy V. Wilson

This memoir by Amy Wilson, first published in 1965 as No Man Stands Alone, talks about her days working as a nurse in British Columbia and Yukon, primarily serving Indigenous communities, in the first half of the 20th century. She occasionally visits camps via dogsled, and some places are accessible only by air. There are bushplanes and rough ferries and ice roads. Wilson brings vaccinations for diphtheria, does wellness checks, and helps at X-ray clinics to screen people for tuberculosis. Wilson captures her experiences vividly, and the bits with the bushplanes provided unalloyed delight for this plane-obsessed reader. She has obvious affection and respect for the people she cared for, willing to endure inhospitable and extremely harsh conditions to help people and making use of Indigenous medicines when they worked better than settler medicine.

Wilson eventually resigned her position and spoke publicly against the Government of Canada’s de facto policy of discrimination toward, and insufficient support for, the Indigenous population. Unfortunately, these circumstances are still present today, as described in Paula Culling’s foreword to the Caitlin Press reprint of Wilson’s memoir (the edition I read). If we cannot learn from the mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them.… (plus d'informations)