Bridging Two Peoples tells the story of Dr. Peter E. Jones, who in 1866 became one of the first status Indians to obtain a medical doctor degree from a Canadian university. He returned to his southern Ontario reserve and was elected chief and band doctor. As secretary to the Grand Indian Council of Ontario he became a bridge between peoples, conveying the chiefs' concerns to his political mentor Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, most importantly during consultations on the Indian Act.

The third son of a Mississauga-Ojibwe missionary and his English wife, Peter E. Jones overcame paralytic polio to lead his people forward. He supported the granting of voting rights to Indians and edited Canada's first Native newspaper to encourage them to vote. Appointed a Federal Indian Agent, a post usually reserved for non-Natives, Jones promoted education and introduced modern public health measures on his reserve. But there was little he could do to stem the ravages of tuberculosis that cemetery records show claimed upwards of 40 per cent of the band.

The Jones family included Native and non-Native members who treated each other equally. Jones's Mississauga grandmother is now honoured for helping survey the province of Ontario. His mother published books and his wife was an early feminist. The appendix describes how Aboriginal grandmothers used herbal medicines and crafted surgical appliances from birchbark.

About the Author
Allan Sherwin is a professor emeritus of neurology at McGill University, where he taught and practised clinical neurology. His research laboratory helped develop techniques to measure anticonvulsant drugs that greatly improved the therapy of epilepsy. Allan Sherwin's clinical practice included work at a clinic responsible for the health of a First Nations community, which led to an appreciation of Indigenous traditions.

Reviews
``The author succeeds in illuminating the life of this ambitious, earnest, sympathetic and ultimately tragic figure, and in many ways this work is an important addition to First Nations history and a welcome companion to Scared Feathers , Dr. Donald Smith's biography of Peter Edmund's father.'' -- Laurie Leclair -- Ontario History, Vol. CV, no. 1, Spring 2013
``Dr. Peter Edmond Jones is the most interesting Canadian you never heard of. His accomplishments were many, yet he died in poverty. He left a mark in science, and public affairs, yet stumbled in drunkenness and despair. The son of a Mississauga chief and English mother, Jones was the first Status Indian to graduate from a Canadian medical school, at Queen's University in 1866; his thesis was "The Indian Medicine Man." Jones was the first to publish an aboriginal newspaper in Canada, The Indian , in 1886. He was a chess master; an archeological advisor to the Smithsonian Institute; a political organizer for John A. Macdonald; a federal Indian agent. "Jones appears to have been a romantic who felt his early success would carry him onwards," writes biographer Allan Sherwin. Of course, this could only end badly. To read Bridging Two Peoples is to sense the creep of petty humiliations and raw bigotry that crushed this Victorian romantic in the end.'' -- Holly Doan -- Blacklock's Reporter, Number 004, November 19, 2012
``Allan Sherwin brings a personal perspective to this very readable biography of Canada's first-known Indigenous physician, Chief Peter Jones.... Sherwin's study is soundly based in the personal records of early Indigenous physicians, chiefs, and women healers, including the family papers carefully preserved by his English grandmother. The informative appendix describes how Aboriginal women used herbal medicines and crafted surgical instruments from birchbark. There is a comprehensive bibliography and an index.'' -- Ontario Historical Society Bulletin, #185, October 2012


Awards
Winner of Joseph Brant Award, Ontario Historical Society 2012 (Canada).



Book Information
ISBN 9781554586332
Author Allan Sherwin
Format Paperback
Page Count 270
Imprint Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publisher Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Weight(grams) 472g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 25mm