Seizing the Means of Reproduction? Canada, Cancer Screening, and the Colonial History of the Cytopipette

Abstract

In recent years, self-sampling has emerged as a compelling way of increasing cervical cancer screening rates within First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. By allowing women to take their own samples in private, when and where they are most comfortable, home testing kits have been framed as a new, unequivocally feminist technology, and a panacea in Indigenous health. But are these techniques really as ethical and empowering as they have been made out to be? To answer this question, this article traces the history of the uptake and use of cervical cancer screening technologies in Canada. By tracing the mechanics and motivations of two state-sponsored cervical cancer screening studies carried out by Canada’s Department of Indian Health Services during the mid to late twentieth century, this piece explores the settler-colonial roots of cancer surveillance, and shows how the implementation of both Pap-testing and DIY forms of screening within Indigenous communities has, at least historically, been more about enacting biopolitical regimes than promoting feminist ideals or improving health outcomes.