The residents of Woodlands were labelled as “severely or profoundly retarded,” or as “morons.” Some weren’t mentally disabled at all but had physical disabilities or behaviour problems that were only made worse by the isolation, monotonous environment, and lack of normal human interactions. While some came to Woodlands as older children or even adults, others were abandoned as babies and knew no other home. Many lived out their lives behind its walls, locked metal doors, and jail-like windows. Ironically, some could even look out from this castle-like fortress to the B.C. Penitentiary next door, a maximum-security prison for society’s worst criminals.
Some of the residents had visits from relatives, but most had no contact with the outside community. Those residents who were able to built friendships with other residents, then cried each night when they had to be separated. More often than not, the ones who needed the most attention and love got the least.
Woodlands, like many such institutions, was self-sufficient. It was staffed by medical and dental professionals, therapists, cooks, teachers, ward staff, and child-care workers. As a result, there was little contact with outside services such as public health, victim support, or police. In essence, it was a self-contained “city” with citizens who had no say in the running of their day-to-day life.
After Woodlands closed in 1996, the provincial government asked Ombudsman Dulcie McCallum to investigate the many complaints of abuse directed at the institution. Her report, The Need to Know: Administrative Review of Woodlands School, brought to light many of the problems inherent in institutions of this kind. She recounted that most residents had little if any contact with family or friends outside the institution. They had no control over any aspect of their lives. Even those who were capable were considered medically and legally incompetent as “retardates” and therefore treated as if they were unable to speak for themselves or had any intellectual insight whatsoever. Some children were used for drug experiments and genetic research — some of which are known today to be quite painful. And it wasn’t uncommon for unclaimed bodies to be regularly donated to the University of British Columbia for research.
McCallum stated that Woodlands “was a perfect place for perpetrators seeking an opportunity to physically and sexually abuse children and adults who were silent, unable to complain, not knowing how or to whom to report or who would, in many instances, not be believed. Severe punishment and threats were used to dissuade children from reporting abuse.”
Her report also stated that the cruel behaviour modification techniques were rationalized by staff who felt residents “didn’t understand or feel pain, and in any event, required a strict disciplinary approach in order to learn.” Little consideration was given to the fact that “bad behaviour was a response to confinement, only spending time with people of similar disabilities, absence of effort to socialize or integrate residents into normal life, boring, bland, sterile environment.” One former resident of Woodlands described the place as “a garbage can for society’s garbage kids.”
Throughout the years there were many reported cases of physical and sexual abuse that leaked out. But according to reports, they were always handled internally. In most cases the investigation into the reported abuses was stalled by an apparent “code of silence” among the staff. Stories surfaced that staff who did report abuses were punished by some of their peers, threatened, transferred, and in one case drugged and institutionalized. As a result of peer expectations, abuse was usually brought to light by people visiting the ward, such as student nurses or family members.
In 1977 the B.C. government ordered all headstones to be removed from the institution’s cemetery. The reasons aren’t completely clear why this action was taken. Some speculate it was to appease the directors of the new Queen’s Park Hospital next door, who felt it was disturbing for patients to gaze out their windows at a cemetery. Between 1977 and 1980 some eighteen hundred headstones were removed and recycled for such purposes as lining walkways and making a barbecue for staff. Many headstones were simply discarded in the creek or sold off as building supplies. The cemetery itself was made into a park.
At its height the population of Woodlands reached an estimated fifteen hundred residents. In the past there were no support groups or organizations for parents whose children had mental, behavioural, or physical disabilities. Although some thought institutionalization was the kindest treatment for these children, the very existence of facilities such as Woodlands testified to the general opinion that these people should be kept locked away and isolated from society.
McCallum’s report paints a bleak picture of this infamous institution. However, in fairness it should be added that there were some staff members who did their best to care for the residents in a respectful and nurturing manner. And there are a few parents who felt their sons or daughters benefited from being placed there.
After Woodlands closed, it remained empty for many years, though the buildings were occasionally used by the film industry. Eventually, the provincial government sold the land to developers who began to erase all evidence of the institution’s existence. During a period of public debate over what was to happen to the few remaining buildings, a terrible fire broke out on July 10, 2008. In a few short hours the flames destroyed all but the facade of the centre block and tower, the oldest part of the institution. Two days after the fire, developers were given permission to demolish and remove the debris, but no in-depth investigation has so far been conducted.
Today the cemetery has become the Woodlands Memorial Garden and honours the more than three thousand deceased individuals who were buried at the former Woodlands cemetery. To date only about nine hundred grave markers have been recovered. Officials say no more graves will be removed or dismantled.
The valuable real estate overlooking the Fraser River and the mountains beyond continues to be moulded into modern townhouses and apartment towers. Only the black monoliths covered in headstones at the back of the property are left to remind us all that more than a century of undervalued people once lived and died there.
For the needs of the needy shall not be
ignored forever;
the hopes of the poor shall not always be
crushed. (Psalms 9:18)
For more information on the Internet, check out www.bcacl.org/index.cfm?act=main&call=A75B1B75. To read the report written by Dulcie McCallum, see www.bcacl.org/documents/Woodlands_Abuse/The_Need_to_Know.pdf. To view Asylum: A Long Last Look at Woodlands by photographer and artist Michael de Courcy, go to www.michaeldecourcy.com/asylum. A teacher’s guide for Free as a Bird is available at www.dundurn.com/teachers.
more great fiction for young
people from Dundurn
Ghost Ride
by Marina Cohen
978-1-55488-438-4
$12.99
Eager to fit in at his new school, fourteen-year-old Sam McLean joins the popular Cody and his sidekick, Javon, on their midnight ghost riding, where the driver and passenger climb onto the hood of their moving car and dance. But something goes wrong, and soon mysterious messages appear on Cody’s blog and anonymous notes are slid into Sam’s locker. As Sam struggles with his conscience, a haunting question remains: Who else knows the truth?
Girl on the Other Side
by Deborah Kerbel
978-1-55488-443-8
$12.99
Despite their differences, Tabby and Lora have something in common — they’re both harbouring dark secrets and a lot of pain. Although they’ve never been friends, a series of strange events causes their lives to crash together in ways neither could have ever imagined. When the dust finally settles and all their secrets are forced out into the light, will the girls be saved … or destroyed?
Watcher
by Valerie Sherrard
978-1-55488-431-5
$12.99
Sixteen-year-old Porter Delancy has his future figured out, but his nice, neat plans are shaken when a man he believes may be his father suddenly appears in his
Toronto neighbourhood. As Porter looks for answers, it begins to seem that all he’s ever going to find are more questions.
Available at your favourite bookseller.
www.dundurn.com
[Tell us your story! What did you think of this book?
Join the conversation at www.definingcanada.ca/tell-your-story
by telling us what you think.]
also by Gina McMurchy-Barber
Reading the Bones
A Peggy Henderson Adventure
978-1-55002-732-7
$11.99
Twelve-year-old Peggy Henderson is forced to live in a quiet British Columbia town with her aunt and uncle. She grows increasingly unhappy until she discovers a human skull in her backyard! The town was built on top of a five-thousand-year-old Coast Salish fishing village. With help, Peggy comes to know the ancient storyteller buried in her yard in a way few others can — by reading the bones.
Free as a Bird Page 12