Studies of the Great Depression in Saskatchewan tend to focus on the unsurpassed poverty, unemployment and general suffering that characterize this period. Little research, however, has been conducted on how this suffering may have contributed to the increasing rates of committals in provincial mental hospitals throughout the 1930s. The Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford (SHNB) not only experienced increasing populations, but serious overcrowding throughout the Depression era. The growth and overcrowding of SHNB demonstrates that Saskatchewan society utilized the hospital to fill their needs.
This thesis analyses the patient ledgers of SHNB to determine what role mental hospitals played in Saskatchewan society during the Depression. Whether concerned for relatives with perceived mental illness, or apprehensive of their deviant behaviour, families were often the primary actors in initiating committal. Once within the walls of SHNB, patient labour was utilized to ensure both the treatment of the insane and the survival of the hospital. Lastly, SHNB also played a role in shaping Canadian society through the deportation and incarceration of unwanted elements. Through an analysis of patient ledgers, it is clear that SHNB was part of a complex set of strategies used by families, hospital staff and society to both house the insane and deviant and to provide treatment in hopes of returning the deemed ill to sanity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-08292011-085715 |
| Date | 22 September 2011 |
| Creators | Creighton, Jennifer Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Dickinson, Harley, Dyck, Erika, Waiser, Bill, Englebert, Robert |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-08292011-085715/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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