Hidden Hegemony in Public Health: A Qualitative Approach to a Comparative Discourse Analysis of How Colonial and Post-Colonial Discourses Shaped the Calgary IODE’s Approach to Child and Family Public Health

Abstract

The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE) is a Canadian women’s auxiliary founded in 1900 that aligned with British colonial values. This study explores colonial and post-colonial discourses within the IODE to understand how these dynamic ideologies produced power effects that influenced the Calgary IODE’s child and family public health work. Calgary IODE colonial discourse between 1930 and 1970 reveals that public health resources used to sustain the English-Canadian population were employed as assimilation tools for non-English speaking immigrants and the Indigenous. However, texts produced after 1970 show a shift in ideological positions, which is apparent in the Calgary IODE post-colonial discourse of its texts between the 1970s and the early 2000s, and the shift from family to community public health. This research is on the impact of historical, social conditions and can be expanded to help mitigate systemic practices, improving health outcomes for all Canadians.