 “We take every opportunity to reach them” 
Following the Second World War, the Canadian government took a more “active” approach towards Indigenous Peoples, hoping that they would move from wardship to citizenship and become part of the Canadian population as a whole. This redefinition of the colonial relationship can be seen in its medical assistance and its reorganization of Indian Health Services (IHS) within the Department of National Health and Welfare. Alarmed by the tuberculosis epidemics in several Indigenous communities and by the possible contagion to white populations, the new IHS program was based on the expansion of the hospital network, the construction of outpost nursing stations and the establishment of vast screening and vaccination campaigns. This strategy led them to deploy various forms of outreach in the field and to rely on mobile medical teams and nurses. Using the photographic collection of nurse Pauline Laurin, the author documents the implementation and organization of the Services in the region during the 1950s and explores, from the nurses’ perspectives, the management of tuberculosis epidemics and the various means undertaken by the Services to reach the Innu.