Tommy Douglas announces a policy to improve Saskatchewan’s mental health system

1945. After becoming premier of Saskatchewan in 1944, mental health was one of the first areas Premier Tommy Douglas sought to reform with his new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Party. The premier’s own history was already closely intertwined mental health. From his master’s thesis to his work at the Weyburn mental hospital, Douglas had formed strong opinions about the province’s mental health policy.

In the years before Douglas turned to politics, he was an ordained minister with the Calvary Baptist Church. Part of his duties included going to the provincial mental hospital in Weyburn to deliver sermons to the patients. Over time, Douglas developed a deep respect for the patients while coming to dislike the policies and treatments the hospital employed. Eventually, while his sympathy for the patients grew, he came to view the hospital with disdain. In his opinion, mental hospitals were custodial places that employed untrained staff to deal with their all too often overcrowded population. (Houston and Waiser, 2010, p.116) Once in office, he was in a position to rectify these issues.

Within the first few months after becoming premier, Douglas introduced a policy to repair what he saw as a broken mental health system – exemplified in Weyburn and its treatment of patients. To spearhead this change, Douglas asked Dr. Clarence Hincks, founder of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, to inspect the province’s mental hospitals and recommend ways to improve them and the system overall.

Hincks complied with the request and came back with a report that emphasized, among other issues, the overcrowding that plagued each institution. It noted that North Battleford and Weyburn, the latter being where the province cared for people with mental disabilities, were way above their population capacities. “In other words,” the report maintained, “at both institutions there are 4,201 patients with adequate accommodations for 2,214. This represents overcrowding to the extent of 89%.” (Hincks, 1945, p.8) To improve conditions at the mental hospitals, Hincks argued the government should reduce the overall patient population, or build another hospital.

At the conclusion of the report, Hincks stated that the government should adopt a stronger community-based mental health care system, instead of one that relied on large custodial institutions. Douglas’ government took Hincks’ recommendations to heart and began to develop a new approach to treat mental illnesses while at the same time looking into ways to reduce both Weyburn and North Battleford’s patient populations. As part of this reduction, the government set about constructing a separate institution designed to help and treat patients diagnosed with mental deficiencies, a facility that was to help people with mental deficiencies and did not lump them into the same category as people with mental illnesses.

-Blaine Wickham

  • Wickham, B. (2012, September). Valley View Centre Moose Jaw: Report prepared for the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport. Retrieved from http://www.tpcs.gov.sk.ca/VVC

  • Houston, S. & Waiser, B. (2010) Tommy’s Team: The People Behind the Douglas Years. Markham, ON: Fifth House, Ltd.

  • Hincks, C. (1945) Mental Hygiene Survey of Saskatchewan. Regina: Thomas A. McConnica, King’s Printer.

Tommy Douglas announces a policy to improve Saskatchewan’s mental health system

1945. After becoming premier of Saskatchewan in 1944, mental health was one of the first areas Premier Tommy Douglas sought to reform with his new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Party. The premier’s own history was already closely intertwined mental health. From his master’s thesis to his work at the Weyburn mental hospital, Douglas had formed strong opinions about the province’s mental health policy.

In the years before Douglas turned to politics, he was an ordained minister with the Calvary Baptist Church. Part of his duties included going to the provincial mental hospital in Weyburn to deliver sermons to the patients. Over time, Douglas developed a deep respect for the patients while coming to dislike the policies and treatments the hospital employed. Eventually, while his sympathy for the patients grew, he came to view the hospital with disdain. In his opinion, mental hospitals were custodial places that employed untrained staff to deal with their all too often overcrowded population. (Houston and Waiser, 2010, p.116) Once in office, he was in a position to rectify these issues.

Within the first few months after becoming premier, Douglas introduced a policy to repair what he saw as a broken mental health system – exemplified in Weyburn and its treatment of patients. To spearhead this change, Douglas asked Dr. Clarence Hincks, founder of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, to inspect the province’s mental hospitals and recommend ways to improve them and the system overall.

Hincks complied with the request and came back with a report that emphasized, among other issues, the overcrowding that plagued each institution. It noted that North Battleford and Weyburn, the latter being where the province cared for people with mental disabilities, were way above their population capacities. “In other words,” the report maintained, “at both institutions there are 4,201 patients with adequate accommodations for 2,214. This represents overcrowding to the extent of 89%.” (Hincks, 1945, p.8) To improve conditions at the mental hospitals, Hincks argued the government should reduce the overall patient population, or build another hospital.

At the conclusion of the report, Hincks stated that the government should adopt a stronger community-based mental health care system, instead of one that relied on large custodial institutions. Douglas’ government took Hincks’ recommendations to heart and began to develop a new approach to treat mental illnesses while at the same time looking into ways to reduce both Weyburn and North Battleford’s patient populations. As part of this reduction, the government set about constructing a separate institution designed to help and treat patients diagnosed with mental deficiencies, a facility that was to help people with mental deficiencies and did not lump them into the same category as people with mental illnesses.

-Blaine Wickham

  • Wickham, B. (2012, September). Valley View Centre Moose Jaw: Report prepared for the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport. Retrieved from http://www.tpcs.gov.sk.ca/VVC

  • Houston, S. & Waiser, B. (2010) Tommy’s Team: The People Behind the Douglas Years. Markham, ON: Fifth House, Ltd.

  • Hincks, C. (1945) Mental Hygiene Survey of Saskatchewan. Regina: Thomas A. McConnica, King’s Printer.

Tommy Douglas announces a policy to improve Saskatchewan’s mental health system

1945. After becoming premier of Saskatchewan in 1944, mental health was one of the first areas Premier Tommy Douglas sought to reform with his new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Party. The premier’s own history was already closely intertwined mental health. From his master’s thesis to his work at the Weyburn mental hospital, Douglas had formed strong opinions about the province’s mental health policy.

In the years before Douglas turned to politics, he was an ordained minister with the Calvary Baptist Church. Part of his duties included going to the provincial mental hospital in Weyburn to deliver sermons to the patients. Over time, Douglas developed a deep respect for the patients while coming to dislike the policies and treatments the hospital employed. Eventually, while his sympathy for the patients grew, he came to view the hospital with disdain. In his opinion, mental hospitals were custodial places that employed untrained staff to deal with their all too often overcrowded population. (Houston and Waiser, 2010, p.116) Once in office, he was in a position to rectify these issues.

Within the first few months after becoming premier, Douglas introduced a policy to repair what he saw as a broken mental health system – exemplified in Weyburn and its treatment of patients. To spearhead this change, Douglas asked Dr. Clarence Hincks, founder of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, to inspect the province’s mental hospitals and recommend ways to improve them and the system overall.

Hincks complied with the request and came back with a report that emphasized, among other issues, the overcrowding that plagued each institution. It noted that North Battleford and Weyburn, the latter being where the province cared for people with mental disabilities, were way above their population capacities. “In other words,” the report maintained, “at both institutions there are 4,201 patients with adequate accommodations for 2,214. This represents overcrowding to the extent of 89%.” (Hincks, 1945, p.8) To improve conditions at the mental hospitals, Hincks argued the government should reduce the overall patient population, or build another hospital.

At the conclusion of the report, Hincks stated that the government should adopt a stronger community-based mental health care system, instead of one that relied on large custodial institutions. Douglas’ government took Hincks’ recommendations to heart and began to develop a new approach to treat mental illnesses while at the same time looking into ways to reduce both Weyburn and North Battleford’s patient populations. As part of this reduction, the government set about constructing a separate institution designed to help and treat patients diagnosed with mental deficiencies, a facility that was to help people with mental deficiencies and did not lump them into the same category as people with mental illnesses.

-Blaine Wickham

  • Wickham, B. (2012, September). Valley View Centre Moose Jaw: Report prepared for the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport. Retrieved from http://www.tpcs.gov.sk.ca/VVC

  • Houston, S. & Waiser, B. (2010) Tommy’s Team: The People Behind the Douglas Years. Markham, ON: Fifth House, Ltd.

  • Hincks, C. (1945) Mental Hygiene Survey of Saskatchewan. Regina: Thomas A. McConnica, King’s Printer.