Woodlands (New Westminster)

Woodlands opened in 1878 as the Provincial Lunatic Asylum, which sat on approximately 40 hectares of crown land. By 1886, the resident population had reached 65. By 1896, the patient population had grown to 171. In 1897 the name was changed to The Provincial Hospital for the Insane. In 1950 the name was changed again to Woodlands School. By 1961, the facility had reached its highest resident population of 1,436. Severe overcrowding lead to some patients being transferred elsewhere in the province, such as Tranquille. The asylum continued to decline into the 1970s with many patients being moved to community placements and group homes. Woodlands closed in 1996. "Firefighters keep eye on gutted school," The Province, July 10, 2008, pg 4.

Similar facilities elsewhere in British Columbia included Tranquille Sanatorium in Kamloops, Essondale or Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, and Valleyview, also in Coquitlam.

During its peak, the asylum housed about 1,500 mentally and physically disabled children. Investigations by the Ministry of Children and Family Development found that about 20% of patients at the facility suffered some form of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. In 2002, a class action lawsuit was filed against the hospital. When settled, over 850 former students were eligible for compensation between $3,000 to $150,000 dependent on the level of abuse. Survivors who suffered from abuse before 1974 were excluded from this compensation due to the Crown Proceedings Act.Hall, Neal "Good riddance, says Woodlands survivors," The Vancouver Sun, October 18, 2011, pg 3. While the case was settled in 2003, payout to the survivors did not occur until 2018.Sandborn, Tom "Searing Poems Give Voice to Residents of Woodland," The Vancouver Sun, March 27, 2021, pg CS6

After closure in 1996, the asylum sat abandoned. In July 2008, a major fire destroyed a number of buildings, including the second and third floors of the center block."Firefighters keep eye on gutted school," The Province, July 10, 2008, pg 4. After proposals to preserve Woodlands' Centre Block Tower were opposed by former residents, New Westminster council voted in July 2011 to demolish the tower.{{dead link|date=January 2023}} In October of 2011, the tower was demolished, with a crowd of about 150 watching. Many of the onlookers were former residents of the school.Hall, Neal "Good riddance, says Woodlands survivors," The Vancouver Sun, October 19, 2011

The site of the former school was also considered for a station on the Expo Line portion of the SkyTrain system. However, plans to redevelop the site never materialized before the construction of the station, meaning that even though the tracks were built to accommodate the new station, it was never built. The neighborhood has since been renamed Victoria Hill, and is home to 1200 new homes.{{cite news|url=https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/woodlands-the-skytrain-station-that-never-got-built/ | title=Woodlands: The SkyTrain station that never got built |publisher=Daily Hive Vancouver |accessdate=April 7, 2019}}

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• {{cite web|url=http://www.michaeldecourcy.com/asylum/intro/intro.htm | title= Asylum: a long, last look at Woodlands|accessdate=July 13, 2011}}

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Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1878

Category:Government buildings completed in 1878

Category:Psychiatric hospitals in Canada

Category:Hospitals in British Columbia

Category:1996 disestablishments in British Columbia

Category:History of New Westminster

Category:Buildings and structures in New Westminster

Category:Former psychiatric hospitals

Category:1878 establishments in British Columbia