Saskatchewan Mental Hospital Cemetery in North Battleford, Saskatchewan

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Get directions North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada

Coordinates: 52.73317, -108.26031
Cemetery ID:

Members have Contributed

About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

Photos

1 open photo request.

Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford was the first mental hospital built in Saskatchewan, founded in 1913. It was a modern treatment facility for its day, but primitive compared to today's standards. Life would not have been easy for patients.

There are three graveyards on the hospital grounds with between 1600 and 2000 graves. Very few have gravestones identifying the person. Most of the graves are marked with nameless, numbered, fastidiously anonymous cement blocks set into the ground. The message of this is clear, even in death, the mentally ill were to be segregated from the general population, and were to be forgotten.

Although the Saskatchewan Hospital has been asked to provide locations of the cemeteries and a list of those who are buried there, no information has been provided and memorials are added by loved ones.

*Note: The location of one cemetery is 52°43'12.6"N 108°14'42.0"W (52.720167, -108.245000) It is about 2 miles away from the original site. From the end of Canola Avenue, turn left of Russet Rd and stop at the fork. Follow the dirt trail which winds left and travels beside a field. The entrance to this cemetery and a small parking area are found here. (The road is not accessible during winter.)