Alberta government creates Blair Commission to study mental health services in Alberta

November, 1967. The Government of Alberta sponsored a study on mental health in Alberta in 1967.

The Premier and the Minister of Health announced in November of 1967 that W.R.N. Blair, head of the University of Alberta’s psychology department would direct a survey of mental health in Alberta. The goals of the commission were to assess province wide resources and evaluate the needs for maintaining mental health and treating mental illness and to make recommendations for the development of an improved, comprehensive, and integrated program for diagnosing, treating, caring for, and rehabilitating mentally ill people, and preventing mental illness in Alberta.

The result of this study, widely known as the Blair Report, was released in 1969. It revealed serious problems in the areas of mental health service, culminating in 189 recommendations and 13 priority areas. Among these were the findings that IQ ratings have cultural factors associated with them which were leading Indian and Métis people to be disproportionately targeted as mentally deficient by Eugenics Board.

Blair specifically emphasized a need for a commitment to mental health research, an increased government recruitment of hospital personelle, a comprehensive mental deficiency program as a medical specialty, increased school counsellors, a care delivery system for addictions, psychiatric clinics for universities, and an end to segregation and stigma of the mentally ill.

However, Blairs suggestions were primarily administrative. In his chapter on the Eugenics Board and the Provincial Training school, he had few suggestions for change regarding the Sexual Sterilization Act. He recommended a larger Eugenic Board membership of people more highly qualified to evaluate biological and social criteria for sterilization; that those who refer candidates be registered with professional associations; and that an executive secretary be appointed to coordinate information such as current scientific findings to the board.

-Sheila Gibbons

  • Blair, W.R.N. (1969). Mental Health in Alberta: A Report on the Alberta Mental Health Study. Edmonton: Government of Alberta.

  • Dechant, G.M. (2006). Winter’s Children: The Emergence of Children’s Mental Services in Alberta, 1905-2005. Edmonton: The Muttart Foundation.

  • Pettifor, J. (n.d.). Reflections on Respect and Caring for Persons with Disabilities: Sixty-One Years of Alberta History. International Journal of Disability, Community & Rehabilitation, 9(1).

Alberta government creates Blair Commission to study mental health services in Alberta

November, 1967. The Government of Alberta sponsored a study on mental health in Alberta in 1967.

The Premier and the Minister of Health announced in November of 1967 that W.R.N. Blair, head of the University of Alberta’s psychology department would direct a survey of mental health in Alberta. The goals of the commission were to assess province wide resources and evaluate the needs for maintaining mental health and treating mental illness and to make recommendations for the development of an improved, comprehensive, and integrated program for diagnosing, treating, caring for, and rehabilitating mentally ill people, and preventing mental illness in Alberta.

The result of this study, widely known as the Blair Report, was released in 1969. It revealed serious problems in the areas of mental health service, culminating in 189 recommendations and 13 priority areas. Among these were the findings that IQ ratings have cultural factors associated with them which were leading Indian and Métis people to be disproportionately targeted as mentally deficient by Eugenics Board.

Blair specifically emphasized a need for a commitment to mental health research, an increased government recruitment of hospital personelle, a comprehensive mental deficiency program as a medical specialty, increased school counsellors, a care delivery system for addictions, psychiatric clinics for universities, and an end to segregation and stigma of the mentally ill.

However, Blairs suggestions were primarily administrative. In his chapter on the Eugenics Board and the Provincial Training school, he had few suggestions for change regarding the Sexual Sterilization Act. He recommended a larger Eugenic Board membership of people more highly qualified to evaluate biological and social criteria for sterilization; that those who refer candidates be registered with professional associations; and that an executive secretary be appointed to coordinate information such as current scientific findings to the board.

-Sheila Gibbons

  • Blair, W.R.N. (1969). Mental Health in Alberta: A Report on the Alberta Mental Health Study. Edmonton: Government of Alberta.

  • Dechant, G.M. (2006). Winter’s Children: The Emergence of Children’s Mental Services in Alberta, 1905-2005. Edmonton: The Muttart Foundation.

  • Pettifor, J. (n.d.). Reflections on Respect and Caring for Persons with Disabilities: Sixty-One Years of Alberta History. International Journal of Disability, Community & Rehabilitation, 9(1).