1907

1907: On March 15, An Act Respecting Insane Persons was passed in Alberta, which was designed to determine how the “insane” would be managed.

1 The act referred to people with disabilities as “insane and dangerous to the community”, and gave the Justice of the peace authority to determine whether or not a person was in fact “insane”.2 It was the first legislation in Alberta that specifically focused on mental health.3 In 1924, the act is renamed the Mental Diseases Act.4 There is a language shift in the new legislation, and the “words “insane” and “insanity” are essentially wiped out of mental health legislation”.5

Timeline1

Resource 1

1. Luke Kersten. “Alberta passes “An Act respecting Insane Persons”,” eugenicsarchive.ca, accessed June 4, 2018, WEB

Resource 2

2. Ibid.

Resource 3

3. Ibid.

Resource 4

4. Amy Dyrbye, “Alberta renames “Insanity Act” to “Mental Diseases Act”,” eugenicsarchive.ca, accessed June 4, 2018, WEB

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