1932. Alberta's Provincial Training School in Red Deer, created to care for the mentally disabled and the "feeble-minded" was temporarily below capacity throughout the year. The admissions for the year – 25 – were balanced by seven deaths, seven transfers, and a record eleven discharges. The number of discharges was the largest in the history of the training school and, according to the annual report, represented an increasing tendency toward freer movement of the population.

Following a 1931 policy of having patients work in various departments, the Provincial Training School fulfilled this new goal of “progress toward the goal of training for return to extra-institutional life” (Province of Alberta, 1932, p. 105). The school also placed emphasis on “personality and character building activities,” (Province of Alberta, 1932, p.105) which were primarily recreational in scope. They included girl guides, scouts, cubs, regular Sunday School, sporting events, waitressing, domestic health, basketry, carpentry, and elementary nursing and first aid classes. Many of these activities were segregated by gender.

The 1932 Annual Report of the Department of Public Health declared that the introduction of such outdoor recreation, was greatly appreciated by both staff and patients, "especially the higher grades, [who] appreciate the increased opportunity for training, the greater variety in experience, the increased responsibility, and the influence carried by senior posts" (Province of Alberta, 1932, p.105). Reports were issued each month on the patients' work in the Training School.

-Sheila Gibbons and Colette Leung

• Province of Alberta. (1932). Annual Report of the Department of Public Health. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.