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Mi'kmaw Teaching and Learning Resources

Letter from Dawson to Joseph Howe regarding the request of Fr. O'Reilly for medical aid for Pictou Mi'kmaq. Includes Howe's response advising Dawson to spend as necessary for health care.
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of Poor refuse them any aid. He wishes if you can allow a few pounds for this purpose, that you would name Dr. McMillan of this place as their medical attendant -- Please let me hear from you in course of Post, and oblige yours truly
Jas. Dawson.

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Answer to foregoing
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Halifax Oct. 1 1842
My Dear Sir
I thought I had written you some time after the receipt of your letter, giving you a carte blanche to do what seemed right in your eyes with the Indians untill I could get East. If I did not, or if you did not receive the letter, be kind enough to take this authority. The act contemplates no expenditure for medical attendance, and in general the Indians are better Doctors than the Whites -- besides, if one Doctor is put upon the Indian Civil list another must be, and from the Bills sent in for transient pauper cases to the House, the cost would be enormous. A few pounds are not of much consequence in an extreme case, but be sure to have some clear bargain and reasonable limit. Yours truly
J. Howe.


Date: 1842

Retrieval no.: Commissioner of Public Records — Mi'kmaq and Government Relations series Nova Scotia Archives RG 1 volume 432 pp. 141-142

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