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How does this photo make you feel?

What kind of reality is being portrayed in this photo? What information can you gather about the people in these photos?

What places or objects are in the picture? What period of time was this photo taken? What can you say about the experience of living in an institution from this photo?

What does this image make you think about? What does it tell you about the way people thought about children with disabilities?

What is this a picture of? What is written on the stones? How are they organized? What does it tell you about social attitudes during that time?

What does the language used in the document tell you about the way people with disabilities were viewed? What are the consequences of using this type of language today?

Survivors often speak about the intense boredom and loneliness they felt while living at the institution.

Survivors often speak about the intense boredom and loneliness they felt while living at the institution.

How did Catherine’s brother Bill change while living at the institution? What does this report document demonstrate?

How would living in these conditions, like the ones seen in this photo, make you feel about yourself?

What does the name, “The Manitoba School for Defectives” tell you about how society viewed residents of this facility?

Thousands of Canadians continue to fight for the right for people who have an intellectual disability to experience freedom, dignity and choice in their life.

How were people left powerless and removed from the protection of their loved ones while living in institutional settings in 2020? Read More.

What are the similarities and differences between jail and institutions according to Peter Park? Read More.

Based on what you have learned in this module, what are the physical and emotional ways that residents of institutions were controlled?

The demolition of Woodlands was an important event for survivors of this institution. It signified that no one could be harmed in that place again.

This institution was formally known as the Provincial Hospital for the Insane when it was built in 1878. The institution was closed in 1996. The story of Woodlands illustrates the journey of deinstitutionalization in the province of British Columbia.

The last remaining remnant of the Woodlands Asylum stands as a memorial to the people whose lives were lost in this dark place.

Thousands of survivors and allies effectively raised awareness about life in institutions.

During the making of the Freedom Tour survivors drove thousands of miles to share their message, “Free our People.”

Why do you think they only put numbers on the gravestones of people who died at MDC? Why not names? What do you think that says about how these people were remembered?

What words would you use to describe the feeling of this building? What do you think it looked like inside?

In this picture, you see people in Manitoba demanding change and freedom for people in Institutions. Where do you think people find the courage to speak out like this?

If you could ask Scott a question, what would it be?

How can a march help draw attention to a cause? How has this strategy been used by other human rights groups?

An aerial view of the grounds surrounding the Huronia Regional Centre in 2020.

Very few adults with developmental disabilities receive much needed support in the areas of everyday activities such as transportation, household chores, meal prep, etc. These are things many of us take for granted.

Rideau Regional Centre was the largest institution in the Commonwealth. One of its hallways was half a mile long. Why do you think the government built such an enormous facility?

What kinds of life experiences are people robbed of when they spend their whole lives in an institution?

The cemetery at Huronia Regional Centre has very few gravestones. Many markers have been moved and those that remain only have resident numbers on them. What does this say about the way people’s lives were valued?

Imagine you are a little boy, about 7 years old, living with dozens of grown men you don’t know and can’t trust. What would you be afraid of?

In 1895 the province of Ontario bought 150 acres of land on Lake Simcoe.

As this housing program report from 2020 shows, large provincial facilities cost more tax payer dollars ($252,000+ per person) than individualized funding ($18,500 per person).

This timeline depicts the journey of institutionalization from 1916 to the present day.

A map of institutions in Nova Scotia.

On April 4, 2019, Premier Stephen McNeil met Donnie MacLean to accept a letter, signed by individuals and groups representing over 100,000 Nova Scotians calling on the government to address the waitlists and housing needs of people in the province.

Jo, Paulette and Audrey, in 2000, at the CACL Annual General Meeting held in Edmonton.

Ms. Cole and her son Ian in 2021.

Mrs. Glover wrote a letter to the Toronto Star in 1930. The letter shows that families wanted their children to go to public schools in their neighbourhood.

Children taking the bus to the Beverley Street School in Toronto, in 1965.

The Canadian Association for Retarded Children (CARC) was formed in 1958 by provincial associations who came together to create a federation. The national board began having discussions on the values that the federation would commit to.

People First groups began to form in provinces, territories and communities across the country. These groups began to be recognized by government for their advocacy role.

The founding members of the People First Movement fought to have an independent organization led by people who have an intellectual disability.

The People First rebellion had a very clear message. Its goal was to challenge the labels that people with disabilities were given. They also wanted people to be recognized as whole individuals who wanted access to life in the community, and the power to make decisions for themselves.

Paul Young signs the Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of People First of Canada.

Initially, sheltered workshops provided people with disabilities with work to do during the day. These were organized programs specifically for people who had a disability, but often paid very little or no money at all for the work these people did.

Peter Park is often referred to as the godfather of the People First movement. As a founding member of People First of Ontario, he has played an instrumental role in building the self-advocacy movement in Canada. Peter spoke at the Supreme Court of Canada in support of Eve, in ‘Eve’s Case.’ On October 23, 1986, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Eve, a 24-year-old woman with an intellectual disability, could not be sterilized without her consent. This decision had a profound impact on the global movement to fully recognize the rights of people with disabilities.⁴

To learn more about Peter Park’s story visit Self-Advocacy from the Ashes of the Institution.

In 1992, Barb Goode travelled from British Columbia to address the United Nations General Assembly at the Thirteenth Annual Congress of the International League for Persons with a Mental Handicap, as it was then called. A profile of Barb, as an advocacy leader, was featured in a 1981 report by Parliament called Obstacles. As a disability rights activist, Barb also played an important role in the Eve’s case decision.⁵

Paul Young was born in Nova Scotia. His autobiographical speech ‘The Cocoon of Impossibility’ draws attention to the ways that people with disabilities are quietly led to the margins of society. Paul received the Meritorious Service Cross from the Governor General in 2016 for his lobbying efforts as an advocate for Canadians living with a physical and/or intellectual disability.⁶

Patrick (Pat) Worth was a founding father of the People First movement. Pat was a former President of People First of Canada, as well as past president of People First of Ontario. He was known around the word as an author and speaker who could really move his audiences to think about people. Three articles that Pat is well known for are Dare to Dream, The Damage of Labels and A Time to Reflect.⁷ Pat was deeply loved and respected by everyone who knew him. Pat sadly passed away in 2004, but his legacy and vision for people who have an intellectual disability lives on.

Like other social justice movements, survivors and families continue to ask the Canadian government to fight against ableism and protect people with disabilities from discrimination.

Freedom is for everyone. Institutions are not homes.

An institution is any place where people who have an intellectual disability are congregated, segregated and/or isolated.

There are many things that make up a person’s identity. What are some things that make up your identity? How do they impact the way you connect with other people?

The cemetery at Huronia Regional Centre has very few gravestones. Many markers have been moved and those that remain only have resident numbers on them. What does this say about the way people’s lives were valued?

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a legal document that sets out the rights and freedoms necessary for all Canadians.

Canadians who have a disability in Nova Scotia continue to fight for their right to live in the community.

Emerald Hall is a locked psychiatric ward in The Nova Scotia Hospital.

J. Walter Thompson’s final decision report. Read More.

Youth with and without a disability contributed equally to the building of this school’s community space.

Youth with and without a disability were given leadership roles in the building of a community garden.

Teachers and community allies are really important members of our school communities. They are the people who can open the doors for youth to turn their ideas into action.