The expenditure in connection with the maintenance of uncared for juveniles amounted to $69,450.15 in 1913, or an increase of $2,582.49 as compared with 1912.
V
VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR THE HANDICAPPED
DEAF MUTES: BOYS (CLERICS OF ST. VIATEUR)—GIRLS (SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE)—THE MACKAY INSTITUTE FOR PROTESTANT DEAF MUTES AND BLIND—THE INSTITUT DES AVEUGLES—MONTREAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND—SCHOOL FOR CRIPPLES (CHILDREN’S MEMORIAL HOSPITAL).
In a separate chapter we have treated of education only in the old sense of the term, vocational training as such also being treated in the notice on the technical schools of the city. The origins of that for physically handicapped children, the deaf, the blind and the crippled, have now to be recorded. There is as yet no provision for the mentally handicapped in the city or province though the subject is being at present promoted. This section is, therefore, placed here rather than in the educational chapter since the institutions it deals with are as yet conducted on sociological and volunteer lines rather than as an established part of the recognized educational systems of the city.
There are at present in Canada seven institutions for deaf mutes.
1. The Catholic Institution of “Sourds Muets,” deaf mutes, boys, founded in 1848 and now conducted under the direction of the Clerics of St. Viateur at 1941 St. Dominique Street, Montreal. 2. The Catholic Institution of “Sourdes Muettes,” girl deaf mutes, founded in 1851 under the direction of the Sisters of Providence, 595 St. Denis Street, Montreal. 3. The Mackay Institute, for girls and boys, founded in 1870. 4. The Institution at Halifax, Nova Scotia, founded in 1857. 5. That at Belleville, founded in 1858. 6. Winnipeg, in 1888. 7. St. John, New Brunswick, in 1903.
THE CATHOLIC INSTITUTE FOR DEAF-MUTE BOYS
Montreal, therefore, might claim at present the lead in this great educational work. Quebec, however, opened a school for deaf mutes in 1831 under Mr. Macdonald, a lawyer who had studied at Hartford, Connecticut, under the direction of M. Laurent Clerc, a pupil of the Abbé Sicard, who had learnt under the famous Abbé de l’Epée. In 1817 Laurent Clerc came to Hartford to found under M.H. Gallaudet, the first institution for deaf mutes on the American continent. The school established by Macdonald was unfortunately closed in 1836, owing to the withdrawal of subsidy by government. The Abbé Prince, afterwards bishop of St. Hyacinthe, endeavoured to support a school under the direction of the young Caron, a pupil of Macdonald, but through want of funds it closed in 1840. Later the Abbé Lagorce, of St. Charles on the Richelieu, attempted to teach the deaf mutes of his parish by pictures. In 1848 he was invited by Bishop Bourget to establish a school for deaf mutes at Hochelaga, in the hospice of St. Jérome-Emilien (the old house of the Good Shepherd) on Brock Street in the Quebec suburbs. He was assisted by a young man named Reeves, a deaf mute and a pupil of Caron. The school was afterwards transferred to a house on Dufresne Street, given by M. Dufresne. In May, 1850, it was transferred to a building on Coteau St. Louis (Mile End) on a piece of land given by Dr. P. Beaubien. It was closed temporarily in May, 1851, on account of a visit made by the Abbé Lagorce to France for the purpose of study. He returned to Canada in October, 1852, and was installed at Joliette. In 1853 he returned to the house at Coteau St. Louis. There he remained till January, 1856, when he relinquished his work in favour of Brother J.M. Young, a cleric of St. Viateur. The latter, himself a deaf mute, had been invited by Bishop Bourget on his return from Rome in 1854, when he found M. Young a professor at the Forestier Institute in Lyons. M. Young entered the novitiate of the Clercs de St. Viateur at Vourles on the 15th of October, 1854, and after pronouncing his vows on October 21, 1855, embarked for Montreal, arriving in December. In view of his advent the classes had not recommenced in September but were again opened January 7, 1856. After the vacation of 1856, the establishment was removed to Chambly but, not succeeding, it was definitely reinstated in Coteau St. Louis after the vacation of 1857. Meanwhile, in 1856 Brother Young was joined by Father Bélanger. To him are due the many important developments, such as the opening in 1865 of the first workshops for printing, binding and shoemaking. In 1878 he added two stores to the principal house and in 1881 joined the workshops to it by a viaduct. In 1870, after a year’s study in Europe, he introduced teaching by words and again in 1880 the purely oral method. In 1883 he was forced to take a rest till 1895, but in 1900, he definitely retired, being succeeded by the Rev. Father Cadieux, of the Clerics of St. Viateur. The establishment gives a complete education to the pupils in its vast halls and workshops, where, besides printing, binding and shoemaking, other trades are taught, such as tailoring, sadlering, joinery, wheelwright’s work, painting, blacksmithing, etc. English Catholic children are also admitted.