Skip to content

LOOKING BACK: Drawing parallels to influenza a century ago

Archivist digs up timely document from the District of Pitt Meadows collection
28205538_web1_copy_220217-MRN-RH-LookingBackInfluenza-side1_1
October 1918 telegram (two sided) regarding provincial board of health influenza regulations. (Pitt Meadows Museum & Archives/Special to The News)

by Rebekah Abebe/Special to The News

At the height of the pandemic, in the late summer of 2020, the City of Pitt Meadows opened its old vault, and out of it came a trove of documents that give us a look at the early public history of the community.

In the next few articles we will take a peek at some of these papers, including this timely document from 1918 – a telegram from the provincial health board to the municipality with instructions for public health during a pandemic more than 100 years ago.

On Oct. 8, 1918, Provincial Secretary J.S. Maclear sent a telegram to the Pitt Meadows council.

It stated that “the Provincial Board of Health has proclaimed regulations empowering all municipalities close all schools, churches, theatres and other public meetings to prevent the spread of Spanish Influenza. Please confer with your local board of health, and advise me at once as to conditions there and as to the necessity of putting these regulations into effect in your municipality. Victoria has already taken such action.”

READ MORE: LOOKING BACK – Quarantine back in the day of the Spanish flu kept Maple Ridge safe

The provincial board of health gave municipalities throughout B.C. the power to close public meeting places to minimize the pervasiveness of the flu.

The devastating effects of the flu led to enforced shutdowns in Victoria.

This telegram shows the order of power from the provincial board of health to municipalities. If there is resistance from locals, then the municipality can seek support from the provincial government to fulfill closures.

The provincial secretary asked the municipal council to consult with the local board of health, report what the conditions were like in Pitt Meadows, and if it was necessary to close public meeting places.

But Pitt Meadows never had a board of health.

This responsibility would have been handled by the municipal council.

The museum does not have a record of council’s report. Nor does it have proof of closure for local schools, the church, or the general store.

It is likely that the council did not close these places of meeting. Nevertheless, Pitt Meadows residents did not escape the harmful effects of the flu. The influenza virus killed 40 of 260 Katzie and one pioneer, Jim McMyn, in this community.

Other Pitt Meadows’ residents who suffered from influenza sought medical attention at the nearest hospital, which was in New Westminster. Flu cases would be recorded at the hospital and that information, as far as we know, was not sent to the municipality.

RECENT LOOKING BACK COLUMN: A family’s journey from Finland via Toronto

There are similarities between the provincial government’s handling of the pandemics in 1918 and a century later.

Both provincial boards of health in 1918 and in 2020 disseminated the order to close places of public meetings.

The result of the 1918 pandemic was the establishment of the federal department of health in 1919. This department made public health a shared responsibility among all levels of government.

Government mandates then and now show that the health of the public cannot easily be accomplished without the cooperation of all those involved.

- Rebekah Abebe is a museum assistant at Pitt Meadows Museum and Archives

.


Have a story tip? Email: editor@mapleridgenews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
28205538_web1_220217-MRN-RH-LookingBackInfluenza-side2_1
October 1918 telegram (two sided) regarding provincial board of health influenza regulations. (Pitt Meadows Museum & Archives/Special to The News)