September 19, 1973. By late 1973, the provincial government and the administration at the Saskatchewan Training School (STS), created to care for the mentally handicapped, were coming under heavy criticism for their mismanagement and bad policies concerning the institution and its residents. In March of that year, an article came out in Regina’s Leader-Post, celebrating Dr. A. J. Beddie’s retirement as superintendent of STS. During his tenure at the training school, according to the article, Beddie turned it “into one of the finest institutions in Canada for the mentally retarded” (Sask. Training School, 1973, p.2).

This is an interesting claim – a hyperbole, almost – considering five years earlier, critics came out and condemned the school for mismanagement and little government support, saying that it was little more than a place to incarcerate people with mental disabilities. While the critics were quiet for a time after that initial barrage, in August of 1973, five months after Beddie’s retirement, the school came under fire once again. This time, a reporter alleged the school was holding residents longer than they needed to. (Minister Denies Reports, 1973)

The government needed to change the image of STS and its own policy regarding the institution and people diagnosed with mental deficiencies. As a result, the government adopted a more community-based program and changed the name of the school to Valley View Center (VVC). The name change was an attempt to distance the facility from its past. CORE Services minister Alex Taylor (who was responsible for the newly renamed Centre and all programs concerning people diagnosed with mental disabilities), stated the name change came “‘because this government did not feel that the previous names reflected our philosophy in providing services to the mentally handicapped in Saskatchewan’” (Valley View Centre, 1973, p.9). Taylor went on to describe the new adopted governmental policy as “normalization.”

Under this new program, the VVC (and its counterpart in Prince Albert) would become “‘just one resource in a totally community-based program’” (Valley View Centre, 1973, p.9). The policy focused on and provided for families and community needs concerning people diagnosed with mental disabilities. It sought to keep people in the home and in the community, rather than claim that an institution was the first and best option for providing care for those in need. The ultimate goal of the policy was to have children with disabilities integrated into the community at an early age, a prospect that was better than sending them away to have people other than their families members care for them.

-Blaine Wickham

• Valley View Centre is Name, (1973, Sept. 19). Moose Jaw Times-Herald, p. 9.

• Sask. Training School director retires to B. C. (1973, Mar. 5) The Leader-Post, p. 2.

• Minister Denies Reports of Investigations at STS, (1973, Aug. 22). Moose Jaw Times-Herald, p. 1.

• 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