BC Sessional Papers – The History of Madness in Canada

The Government of British Columbia Sessional Papers Collection 1872-1982

The Government of British Columbia Sessional Papers Collection 1872-1982, compiled by S. Chris Vogt, with assistance from Alicia Nijdam, permission of the Royal BC Museum Archives, and thanks to Simon Fraser University’s W.A.C. Bennett Library.

[In Progress]

The Sessional Papers collection is a rich resource for information concerning the history of madness in the province of British Columbia. The entries commence at the formative years of the province, when need for appropriate housing and treatment centres for the insane was first recognized.

The Sessional Papers follow the evolving course of government policy decisions moving from the simple warehousing of so-called ‘lunatics’ to the various stages of modern institutional psychiatric treatment and care. Reports of the provincial Public Works, Comptroller General, and Finance ministries give details of the costs associated with construction and maintenance of facilities.

The annual reports of the Victoria Lunatic Asylum (1872-1878), the Public Hospital for the Insane (1878+), the Provincial Mental Hospital, Essondale (1913-1964, renamed Riverview Hospital thereafter) and the Provincial Mental Home, Colquitz (1919-1964) offer insight into day to day operations.

To date, this exhibit comprises a sampling of eight annual reports, from the years: 1901, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1913, 1917, and 1929.

Highlights of the collection, when completed, will include the “Flora Ross correspondence” of the 1870s, which allows a glimpse into the life and experiences of British Columbia’s first asylum matron (along with the dubious conduct and eventual demise of Victoria Asylum lay superintendent Edward Albert Sharpe), and the “Royal Commission Report on Mental Hygiene” which raises the spectre of eugenics in the 1920s.