You may have a "terminology" problem here.

The white wire, which you *do* have in all of your outlet boxes, *is* the neutral wire. This is the wide spade lug on a Canada/USA power cord plug.

And the black wire is the hot wire. This is the narrower spade lug on a Canada/USA plug.

What may be missing in a home older than about 40 years or so, is a bare, uninsulated copper wire, known as the earth ground wire. This is the third (offset middle) prong on a Canada/USA plug.

EDIT: oh wait, you did say switch boxes.. hang on for my next posting.

-ml