Under the authority of the Quebec Public Health Act, the board has made and enforces through all the municipalities of the province by-laws relating to the prevention and limitation of infectious diseases, the improvement of sanitation, the removal of nuisances, the wholesomeness of food, the sanitary conditions of habitations and factories, etc. Since 1894, no system of waterworks and no sewerage system can be established without the board having approved the plans thereof and this is also the case for projected cemeteries. In 1893, the Legislature enacted the law of statistics by which the data contained in the registers of the civil status are made available to the board and this was the origin of its division of vital statistics. In 1893, the board established a bacteriological and chemical laboratory where rural municipalities can have their analyses made free of cost, as well as physicians the bacteriological diagnosis. In 1909, the board organized a special division of sanitary-engineering for the efficient betterment of the sanitation of water supplies and sewerage systems. In 1910, the board requested the Government to assent to the division of the province in ten sanitary districts under “whole time” inspectors who possessed a diploma in public health. The delay in securing these sanitarians was the cause that this district service could only be organized in the year 1912.
The board has jurisdiction over the whole 1,164 municipalities the province contains. It has power to require the organization of a local board of health in every municipality. Municipal councils are bound to execute all by-laws enacted by the provincial board and whenever the latter find them too lax, it may directly itself execute the by-laws at the expense of the municipalities in fault.
The board is composed at present (1914) of ten members, one of whom is made president. The other officers are: the executive secretary, the chief inspector of health, the recorder of vital statistics, the bacteriologist, the chemist, the sanitary engineer and seven district inspectors. The president is Dr. E. Persillier-Lachapelle, and the secretary, Dr. E. Elzear Pelletier.
THE CITY BOARD OF HEALTH
The Bureau of Health of Montreal came into effect through a by-law passed in the city council on the 10th of May, 1865. Subsequently, ten years later, this by-law was replaced by another, No. 105, passed in 1876, under which the board now operates.
The board has jurisdiction over all matters of public health and is composed of the following sub-departments: contagious diseases; medical inspection of schools: sanitary inspection; food inspection; inspection of milk and dairy farms; statistics; municipal laboratories; the municipal medical service. The sanitary inspection department covers the general sanitation of the dwellings, outhouses, lanes, etc.
The first health officer was Dr. Larocque, who served for about twenty years, and was succeeded by Dr. Louis Laberge, who filled the office for nearly thirty years. The present officer is Dr. S. Boucher, who was appointed December 1, 1913.
The by-law governing the bureau calls for a board to consist of the mayor, nine aldermen of the city and nine citizens outside of the city council. This, however, has not been carried into effect. The board now consists of nine members, including the mayor and the health officer. The board is appointed by the city council each year, in March, and the present board consists of Mayor Martin, Alderman Letourneau, M.D., chairman; Alderman Dubeau, Alderman Denis, M.D., Alderman Dubois, M.D., Alderman O’Connell, Alderman Blumenthal, Alderman Turcot, and the medical health officer, Dr. S. Boucher.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The medical faculty of Bishop’s College has been abandoned since 1905.