How We Won Medicare: Resource List
This list features materials that document the grassroots struggle behind the creation of Medicare in Canada. It brings together records of community organizing, political advocacy, and collective action that helped lay the foundation for a universal, public health care system.
BC Health Coalition Resources
How the Grass Roots Won Medicare (PowerPoint)
A presentation illustrating the organizing tactics, community groups, and collective struggle that won Medicare. It features archival photographs, historical documents, and key moments from Saskatchewan’s grassroots fight for universal, publicly funded health care.
Download PowerPoint
A People's Struggle: The Community Clinics That Won Public Health Care
This article explores how Saskatchewan’s community health centres were central to the creation of public health care in Canada but were prevented from becoming part of its foundation.
A People's Victory: Fighting Racist Propaganda in Rural Saskatchewan’s Battle for Public Health Care
The article highlights how people in rural Saskatchewan confronted racist propaganda and corporate-backed fear mongering through grassroots organizing, education, and collective action, ultimately securing public health care as a people’s victory.
Download Article
Primary Resources
These sources include original documents, archival materials, firsthand accounts, and foundational publications related to the development of Medicare.
The making of a Socialist : the recollections of T.C. Douglas
Reproduced from a series of taped interviews recorded between 21 September and 21 December 1958. The interviewer was C.H. (Chris) Higginbotham
Internet Archive
The First Fight for Medicare
A pamphlet recounting Saskatchewan’s groundbreaking 1962 fight to implement the first universal, public medical care plan in North America—despite fierce opposition from the medical establishment.
Download PDF
A Petition of Rights and A Bill of Health
Published by the State Hospital and Medical League, this 1940s pamphlet laid out the moral and practical case for public health care, helping galvanize early support and countering misinformation.
Download PDF
Public Voice for Medical Insurance
original news clippings from a Public Voice for Medical Insurance, a newspaper published by the Saskatchewan Citizens for Medical Care to counter the misinformation campaign. Found in Sophia Dixon Collection – U of S Archives.
View Clippings:
- Public Voice for Medical Insurance Issue 1: 7 July 1962
- Public Voice for Medical Insurance Issue 2: 14 July 1962
- Public Voice for Medical Insurance Issue 4: August 1st 1962
Medicare: A People's Issue
A digital exhibit chronicling Saskatchewan's Medicare fight, featuring timelines, documents, and photos.
View the exhibit (Archived)
The Birthplace of Medicare – A Walking Tour of Downtown Saskatoon
A self-guided historical tour published by Saskatoon Community Health Services.
Medicare Walk Booklet
The First Ten Years
A 1972 publication reflecting on the Saskatoon Community Clinic’s early years delivering cooperative care.
Download PDF
Privilege and Policy: A History of Community Clinics in Saskatchewan
A historical account of how grassroots clinics challenged mainstream medical and political power.
Download PDF
Reforming or Eroding the Health Care Workforce?
This chapter provides an overview of the struggle for universal health care by Canadians, with a focus on the pivotal role unions played in achieving medicare.
Download PDF
Secondary Resources
These sources interpret, analyze, and reflect on the events and figures central to Medicare’s development.
Same Fight, New Foes – Briarpatch Magazine
Reflects on Medicare's legacy and current threats to public health care.
Read Article
The Birth of Medicare – Canadian Dimension
A clear overview of Medicare’s founding and public resistance to privatization.
Read Article
The Fight for Medicare in Saskatchewan – National Film Board of Canada
Medicare in Canada didn’t drop from the sky—it began with a major grassroots struggle in Saskatchewan, led by Tommy Douglas’s CCF government. This NFB short film summarizes the political battle that laid the foundation for national Medicare.
Watch on YouTube
Saskatchewan Doctors’ Strike 1962
A short video on the July 1962 doctors’ strike in Saskatchewan, when the medical establishment opposed the CCF government's introduction of Medicare. The strike ended in compromise—and marked the beginning of a national movement for public health care.
Watch on YouTube
Tommy Douglas: Keeper of the Flame – National Film Board of Canada
A documentary on the political and moral fight for Medicare, narrated by Donald Brittain.
Watch Film
Canada: A People’s History – CBC
This episode explores the dramatic standoff between the Saskatchewan government and doctors in 1962.
Watch the Episode
Medicare – Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan
Contextualizes the rise of Medicare and Saskatchewan’s leadership in health reform.
🔗 Read Entry
Tommy Douglas: Orator
Speeches, stories, and parables told by Tommy Douglas that capture his vision, wit, and unwavering commitment to justice.
The Cream Separator – Tommy Douglas
A favourite story Douglas used to illustrate inequality and class injustice. Introduction by Pierre Berton, filmed by Doug Taylor.
Watch on YouTube
The Story of Mouseland – Tommy Douglas (1944, re-told)
Douglas’s famous parable critiquing elite rule and calling for working-class political action. Introduced by Kiefer Sutherland.
Watch on YouTube
S.O.S. Medicare Conference Speech – Tommy Douglas (1979)
In this landmark speech, Tommy Douglas explains that Medicare is not complete and reminds Canadians of Medicare’s moral foundation.
Watch on YouTube
Canadian Health Coalition Conference Speech – Tommy Douglas (1982)
In this passionate address, Douglas warns of the threats of extra billing and health care premiums, advocating for the continued expansion of Medicare to include clinics, pharmacare, denticare, and preventative care.
the Future of Medicare Speech – Tommy Douglas (1983)
Douglas last speech outlines the dangers of user fees, two-tier health care, and the erosion of universal principles.
Watch on YouTube