Welcome to Dis/Integration, an Edmonton Pipeline tracking the demise of the Charles Camsell Hospital.
The Camsell, as it is is known locally, is a semiotically rich site. Originally opened as a tuberculosis hospital in 1946 by what was then called the Department of Indian and Eskimo Affairs, “The Charles Camsell Indian Hospital” served as a treatment facility for First Nations Peoples until the late 1960s, when tuberculosis infection rates became too low to sustain an entire facility. It became became a general treatment hospital in the 1970s, and was transfered to provincial jurisdiction in 1980. The hospital was closed in 1996 and now stands as an iconic ruin, simultaneously a crumbling remnant of both 20th century government policy regarding First Nations peoples, and the attenuation of Canada’s state-funded health care system.
[cetsEmbedGmap src=http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=53.564375,-113.543701&ll=53.564356,-113.543487&spn=0.006264,0.009774&sll=53.563683,-113.543704&t=h&z=17 width=800 height=600 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=auto]