Alberta passes "An Act respecting mentally defective persons"

April 17, 1919. The Alberta Legislature passes "An act respecting mentally defective persons". The aim of this legislation was to provide guidelines on how people with mental disabilities should be handled. This legislation outlined when someone counted as a "mentally defective person", what institutions could house and care for such people, the process for how someone could be committed to such institutions, and what financial support could be given to the people and institutions which process and care for such persons.

The statute defined someone as being "mentally defective" if they had a mental deficiency from birth which resulted in them not being able to take care of themselves (Alberta Statutes, ch. 21, §2, 151).

This legislation also extended a good deal of power to the lieutenant governor of province in dealing with people deemed mentally defective. It made it the job of the lieutenant governor to decide which buildings could house people with mental disabilities and allowed that position to initiate proceedings to have mentally disabled persons committed to the appropriate institutions at their discretion. That last point only required that it would be problematic either for a mentally defective person or others to be left in the general public. This even applied if there was a guardian in care of the person in question (Alberta Statutes, ch. 21, §7-9, 152).

Further included in the legislation was how the commitment process was to occur and how it should be financially supported. Basically, a legal hearing was to be held, usually managed by the Minister of Education, where it was to be determined by a legal authority (justice of the peace) whether or not the person in question should be committed, and how the authorities responsible for making that process happen were to be reimbursed; the maximum reimbursement for which could not exceed ten dollars per month per person committed (Alberta Statutes, ch. 21, §14-20, 152).

The general importance of this legislation in eugenics history in western Canada is that it began the process of institutionalization. People deemed mentally defective, according to this legislation, could be housed, even against theirs or their guardian's will, if it was deemed necessary by state authorities. This legislation marked one of the first steps in the state taking and exerting control over undesirable people within Alberta.

-Luke Kersten

Alberta passes "An Act respecting mentally defective persons"

April 17, 1919. The Alberta Legislature passes "An act respecting mentally defective persons". The aim of this legislation was to provide guidelines on how people with mental disabilities should be handled. This legislation outlined when someone counted as a "mentally defective person", what institutions could house and care for such people, the process for how someone could be committed to such institutions, and what financial support could be given to the people and institutions which process and care for such persons.

The statute defined someone as being "mentally defective" if they had a mental deficiency from birth which resulted in them not being able to take care of themselves (Alberta Statutes, ch. 21, §2, 151).

This legislation also extended a good deal of power to the lieutenant governor of province in dealing with people deemed mentally defective. It made it the job of the lieutenant governor to decide which buildings could house people with mental disabilities and allowed that position to initiate proceedings to have mentally disabled persons committed to the appropriate institutions at their discretion. That last point only required that it would be problematic either for a mentally defective person or others to be left in the general public. This even applied if there was a guardian in care of the person in question (Alberta Statutes, ch. 21, §7-9, 152).

Further included in the legislation was how the commitment process was to occur and how it should be financially supported. Basically, a legal hearing was to be held, usually managed by the Minister of Education, where it was to be determined by a legal authority (justice of the peace) whether or not the person in question should be committed, and how the authorities responsible for making that process happen were to be reimbursed; the maximum reimbursement for which could not exceed ten dollars per month per person committed (Alberta Statutes, ch. 21, §14-20, 152).

The general importance of this legislation in eugenics history in western Canada is that it began the process of institutionalization. People deemed mentally defective, according to this legislation, could be housed, even against theirs or their guardian's will, if it was deemed necessary by state authorities. This legislation marked one of the first steps in the state taking and exerting control over undesirable people within Alberta.

-Luke Kersten