Our Journey - 1900’s
Jessie Luther supervising the building of a kiln for pottery making at the Grenfell Mission, St. Anthony, Nfld., 1908.
Our Journey - 1910’s
This is the Manual Training School in Lunenburg, NS.
Graduate of Ward Aides Course working with a soldier injured in WWI. "SCR" on her lapel pocket stands for the Department of Soldier's Civil Re-establishment which oversaw the training program.
volunteer ward aides working with injured soldiers of WWI
Graduates of the 1919 Ward Aides Course at Divinity Hall, McGill.
1910s May Hamilton Camp Hill Veteran's Hospital
Convalescing soldier using a specially designed "bed loom."
Veteran with upper limb amputation re-learning farming skills.
Founders of the National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy (1917) included the Canadian, Thomas Kidner (instrumental in developing Canadian occupational therapy) standing on the far right above Eleanor Clarke Slagle.
Students in the first Ward Aides Course, learning to do carpentry in the Mining Building at U of T
Doris Stupart, grad of first ward aides course at U of T, was the supervisor of the ward aides at the College Street Military Hospital in Toronto and the first president of the Ontario Society of Occupational Therapy.
Some graduates of the U of T Ward Aides working at a hospital in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan.
Our Journey - 1920’s
Clients engage in weaving as occupational therapy, 1920s. Craft-based activities were central to early occupational therapy practice, reflecting the profession's founding belief in the healing power of meaningful occupation.
Mary Black, from Nova Scotia, was one of the first Canadians OTs
Dr Goldwin Howland, CAOT's first president. He served from its inception in 1926 to 1948.
First graduates of the diploma program at the University of Toronto, 1928. Helen LeVesconte (bottom right) became the program's director from 1933-1967.
Our Journey - 1930’s
The graduating OT class of 1930 included Rita Harland who taught Anatomy to OT students and Mabel McNeill MacRae who helped establish the OT department at the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Occupational therapists demonstrating treatment approaches to various orthopaedic and neurological conditions at the Canadian National Exhibition in the 1930s (exact date unknown).
1938 CAOT Convention in Montréal
First issue of CJOT was published in 1933. The first page listed the members of its Honorary Advisory Council which included some powerful and well-known individuals.
CAOT 1938 Convention in Montréal
Our Journey - 1940’s
Unidentified OT military trainees
Occupational therapist enabling painting skills with an amputee patient 1940s.
Thelma Cardwell was the first OT to become the president of the CAOT (1966-68) and was president of WFOT from 1967-72. She was a founder of COTF, a professor at U of T, and the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Dalhousie.
OT Margaret Hood was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal for her active-duty service overseas.
May Hamilton served CAOT in numerous roles and was seen as a leader in the profession – Dr. Gustave Gingras referred to her as “The Grande Dame of Occupational Therapy”. She served in the Canadian army and set up the first OT school in Venezuela.
An OT works with a serviceman, subjects unknown.
OTs heading off to World War II
OTs stationed at the British War Office during WWII. From left to right: Dorothy Grant, Amy De Brisay, Josephine Forks, Mary Clarke Ray
Our Journey - 1950’s
OTs and the therapeutic use of crafts at this time likely to enhance upper extremity and fine motor functioning rather than as a creative activity.
CAOT member and U of T Director Helen LeVesconte seated third from the left at this 1954 WFOT Congress in Edinburgh.
What were OTs reading about in 1955?
An OT guides a client through upper extremity strengthening exercises in a workshop, 1950s. Workshop-based rehabilitation was a hallmark of occupational therapy practice through much of the 20th century.
Canada's first OTA training program, Kingston Psychiatric Hospital, Ontario. Established under the Department of Health to meet growing demand for occupational therapy services in psychiatry.
McGill University School of Physical & Occupational Therapy students, 1951.
Canadian OT leaders Isabel Robinson (first left) and Helen LeVesconte (3rd from left) at an early WFOT Congress.
Our Journey - 1960’s
Thelma Cardwell was elected as CAOT’s President in 1966, marking a major milestone since she was the first occupational therapist, first woman, and first non-physician to hold this position.
Advertisement from the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1966. Velcro became a widely used adaptive tool in occupational therapy practice.
University of Manitoba students experiencing the power of therapeutic activities to enhance functioning. Pictured here: Josephine Forbes (Director of OT Program) and Rita Brooks (OT student).
Uof Manitoba 1962 first graduates: From L to R, Rita Brooks, Mary Pflueger, Sharon Wood.
Our Journey - 1970’s
Joy Bassett was the first recipient of the Muriel Driver Memorial Lectureship in 1975.
Table of contents from the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1972. CJOT has been a cornerstone of occupational therapy scholarship and professional knowledge-sharing in Canada since 1933.
Our Journey - 1980’s
Developers of the COPM from the left: Nancy Pollock, Mary Ann McColl, Helene Polatajko, Sue Baptiste, Mary Law. Missing-Anne Carswell.
Mock funeral of the "Diffident Profession" at the 1985 CAOT conference, in response to the 1977 Maxwell Report that called on OTs to become more assertive and to claim their important role in health and rehabilitation.
Our Journey - 1990’s
Attendees gather at the CAOT Conference, St. John's, Newfoundland, 1992.
Our Journey - 2010’s
U of T's Dr Heather Colquhoun modeling the COTF Auction item that everyone wants at the 2018 CAOT Conference.
McMaster U's Dr Lori Letts modeling the highly sought after COTF Auction item- the zebra purse and hat (donated by Sharon Brintnell) at the CAOT 2018 conference.
Muriel Driver Lecturer and U of Ottawa OT Director Claire-Jehanne Dubouloz-Wilner with CAOT Past Presidents (from left), Elizabeth Taylor and Sharon Brintnell at the 2018 WFOT Congress, Cape Town, South Africa.
Our Journey - 2020’s
Catherine Backman and Sarabjeet Charchun present at the CAOT Conference, Whistler, BC, in 2022.
Canadian OTs gather at the World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress, in Paris, France in 2022.
CAOT CEO Hélène Sabourin joined an attendee at the 2023 OT Atlantic Conference, the first in 10 years, in October 2023.
Merit Award Recipient Corinne Clyne with CAOT Vice Chair & Awards Committee Chair Lisa Diamond-Burchuk at the 2024 Awards Ceremony in Halifax.
Gayle Restall, Jeff Boniface, and Mary Egan with the COTF Auction zebra hat and purse at the CAOT 2022 Conference in Whistler, BC.
Sukaina Dada, the Closing Ceremony Keynote Speaker at the CAOT 2025 Conference in Edmonton, Alberta.
Silver spoons on auction at the Canadian Occupational Therapy Foundation fundraiser, CAOT Conference, Whistler, BC, in 2022. The annual COTF auction has long been a beloved conference tradition.
Angie Phenix presents during the sessions at the 2025 CAOT Conference in Edmonton.
Jill Zwicker, CAOT-BC Outstanding Occupational Therapist of the Year, with Tanya Fawkes, CAOT-BC Regional Director, at the 2022 Awards Ceremony in Whistler, BC.
Lisa Boivin, Keynote Speaker, at the CAOT 2024 Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Launch of the Promoting Occupational Participation textbook with its editors and chapter authors at the CAOT Conference, Whistler, British Columbia, 2022.
Launch of the Promoting Occupational Participation textbook with its editors, CAOT Board President Giovanna Boniface, CAOT CEO Helene Sabouin and staff at the CAOT Conference, Whistler, British Columbia, 2022.
Moira Pena, Keynote Speaker at the Closing Ceremony of the CAOT 2023 Conference in Saskatoon, SK.