The Other Little House: The Brothel as a Colonial Institution on the Canadian Prairies, 1880–93

Abstract What role did settler bawdy houses play in Canadian colonial expansion the 1880s? The trial of “Big Nelly” Webb, a white house madam and sex worker who shot Mounted Police constable on doorstep her brothel 1888, offers critical insight into world these seldom acknowledged institutions women ran them. Far from simply “women margins,” officials North-West Territories permitted many madams workers to operate emerging prairie settlements because they viewed them as essential workers. Drawing archives Police, memoirs testimonies madams, newspaper court reports, this article explores networks influence that supported houses, including local police high-ranking officials. Beyond personal ties, like Big Nelly reflected function brothel. waves migrating flocked Canada’s “Last Best West” during period could serve very real growth biopolitical regulation new Indigenous territory. These were tasked with protecting regulating sexual reproductive health, retaining bachelor migrants isolated settlements, fostering urban growth. Settler Prairies also bastions racial segregation containment, built displace (and expose) color stop Black, Indigenous, mixed-race populations resistance 1880s. Indeed, race-based hierarchies not just exist within economies Territories, one foundational justifications for their existence.