The Genesis and Evolution of Montreal’s Protestant Institution for Deaf-Mutes, 1870 – 1900

In 2015, the Quebec government passed Bill 10: An Act to modify the organization and governance of the health and social service network, in particular by abolishing the regional agencies. Since its adoption, this bill has led to the mass reorganization of services used by people with disabilities in Montreal. One of the organizations affected, presently known as the MAB-Mackay Rehabilitation Centre, traces its roots to the late nineteenth century with the founding of the Protestant Institution for Deaf-Mutes. Using an interdisciplinary critical disability studies and Deaf studies framework, this primary-source archival research will answer two questions: (1) what were circumstances in Montreal’s Anglophone and Protestant community during the nineteenth century that gave rise to this institution?, and (2) how did the Protestant Institution for Deaf Mutes change from 1870-1900? By tracing the genesis and evolution of the institution during the nineteenth century, this project hopes to instigate future research into the lives of the deaf/disabled in Montreal, addressing the absence of Quebec’s disability history from the field of Canadian disability history.