J. Gordon Whitehead, who punched Harry Houdini on the night that he died*, himself died of malnutrition in 1954. He was a recluse and a hoarder and doubtless had struggled with mental illness.
Was Canada’s social welfare system in 1954 such that he could have gotten help (with obtaining food) if he wanted it? The Canadian version of food stamps, as it were? Were other forms of welfare available to him if he wanted it? Or was it quite possible at that time that a Canadian could have starved to death from inability to purchase food?
*Yes, I know that whether or not the blows delivered by Whitehead actually killed Houdini is a matter of dispute.
The social state was in place, so the fellow would not have died of starvation for lack of any social support programs in 1954 . . .
. . . unless, that is, he was one of the Barrens Caribou People to the west of Hudson’s Bay.
