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The Huronia Regional Centre (previously the Ontario Hospital School, Orillia, and initially the Orillia Asylum for Idiots) was an institution for developmentally disabled children operated by the government of Ontario, Canada between 1876 and March 31, 2009. After the closing of the school, and prompted by a class-action lawsuit, the government agreed to apologize for decades of neglectful abuse of the facility's residents and pay a settlement to surviving victims. The Ontario Hospital School, Orillia served Central Ontario, including the Counties of Halton, Peel, York, Ontario, Simcoe and the Districts of Muskoka and Parry Sound. ==Facilities== In 1859, the Ontario government established a branch of the Toronto-based Provincial Lunatic Asylum in Orillia, modifying a hotel to suit this purpose. Within a few years, the facility was closed down due to disrepair, but due to increasing demand for residential mental health services, it was reconditioned and reopened in 1876, this time as a newly independent "Hospital for Idiots and Imbeciles"—specifically children. In 1885, the hotel building was becoming overcrowded, and it was replaced by a new property on the shore of Lake Simcoe. The new main building and two three-storey "cottages" were augmented by several additional buildings built around 1915 and 1932. By the time of its closure in 2009, it was configured with individual apartments, a canteen, a chapel and a therapeutic swimming pool. With the purchase of adjacent lands in 1911, the facility stood on a plot and included a farm. When ''Toronto Star'' columnist Pierre Berton visited the Ontario Hospital School in 1960, he reported dilapidation and gross overcrowding— residents occupying spaces that could hardly contain a thousand fewer, with sleeping quarters installed in repurposed classrooms, playrooms and therapy rooms. Washroom facilities were also insufficient—on one floor, 144 patients shared 8 toilets, 3 showers and 1 bathtub—and Berton observed that "()risoners in reformatories have better facilities." 900 of the higher-functioning patients were housed in the oldest and least fire-resistant buildings, because they were judged most able to flee in case of evacuation. Despite these glaring flaws, Berton also noted that "()n many respects it () an up-to-date institution with a dedicated staff fighting an uphill battle against despairing conditions." Later in its existence, the Huronia Regional Centre was home to considerably fewer residents. In April 1971, the daily average resident population was ; in 1975, the population of was composed of males and 596 females; in 1996, 583 people lived there; and by 2004, fewer than 350 remained. The residents also tended to be considerably older—49 years of age, on average, in 2004. The institutional cemetery is located in a field across from the Centre. There are about unmarked graves and 571 numbered graves located there; the last burial took place in 1971. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Huronia Regional Centre」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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