History of RPNs in BC

The Public Hospital's population exceeds 300. The hospital is also used for housing developmentally disabled people and unwanted, physically handicapped children along with psychiatric patients. Overcrowding complaints are made.

The Hospitals for the Insane Act is passed, B.C.'s first legislature enabling commitment to a facility. The Act stipulates that two medical certificates are required for commitment. The New Westminster Provincial Asylum is renamed the Public Hospital for the Insane (PHI).

Work therapy is introduced and patients work in the gardens.

The first asylum is closed and patients are moved to newly built Provincial Asylum for the Insane located in New Westminster.

The Insane Asylums Act is passed, which is B.C.'s first legislation regarding mental illness.

B.C.'s first asylum for the insane, known as the Lunatic Asylum, opens in the old Royal Hospital building.

The Female Infirmary and the Royal Hospital amalgamate and patient care is moved into the Pandosy building.

The Female Infirmary, located in a one storey building on Pandosy Avenue in Victoria, opens and includes some occupants known as "lunatics". here is no formal treatment or care for these women and they are left to fend for themselves. If they become troublesome or are deemed dangerous, they are locked in city jails either in Victoria or New Westminster.

The Royal Hospital, the first hospital in B.C., is opened in Victoria.

British Columbia records the first case of insanity following an assault of a jail doctor. The assailant, a Scottish immigrant referred to as the "maniac", is sent back to Scotland on the next ship.