Sexual Assault and Disability: Saskatchewan, 1942

• Author: Constance Backhouse
• Pages: 131-164



EChapterF

SEXUAL ASSAULT AND

DISABILITY: Saskatchewan

B I T bor n in  on the family homestead near

Torquay thirtyseven miles west of Estevan Saskatchewan t he fourth in

a family of seven children.Inherfathersillhealthforcedthefam

ily to give up the farm and move to Midale, midway between Estevan and

WeyburnTheyboughttheformerdentistshouseatMainStreetwhere

thefamilywouldresideintothenextgenerationBeatricesfatherworked

onneighbouringfarmswhenhishealthpermieduntilhisdeathin

Beatricesmotherfamousforhercookingearnedsomeincomebybaking

moundsofloavesforthemanybachelorswhohomesteadedinthearea

She also did domestic work in other Midale homes, and laboured in the

cookcarstomeetthevoraciousappetitesofthethreshingcrewsthattrav

elled from farm to farm for the annual harvests. Somehow, with the help of

the children, t he family eked out a living.

Midale, where Beatrice spent the early years of her childhood, was in the

southeast corner of Saskatchewan. It was a typical Prairie town, with three

grain elevators and fewer than two hundred inhabitants, where the farmers

tendedcaleandsowedunpredictablecropsofwheatoatsbarleyandrye

TherstwhitehomesteadersinMidalehadarrivedintakingupfarms

alongtheSooLineoftheCanadianPacicRailwaythatconnectedMoose

JawwithMinneapolisMinnesotaTheareawashardhitduringtheDepres

sionofthesandwithseveredroughtinThatyearthebesiegedru

ralmunicipalitydealtwithapplicationsforreliefinasevendayperiod

ThewinterofwasthecoldestonrecordOneyearlaterinJuly

ﾅﾇﾆCarnalCrimes

From Plowshares to Pum pjacks: R. M. of Cymri: Macou, Mi dale, Halb rite(Midal e: R.M. of Cymr i Histor y Book Soci ety, 1984) at 5 47.

BerthaandHenryTisdaleBeatricesparentswithheroldersiblingsletoright

Leona, Mabel, and Howard

Atlas of Canada, atla s.gc.ca 20 05 — produced und er licence f rom Her Maje sty the Qu een in Righ t of Canada, wi th permis sion of Natu ral Resou rces Canad a

Map of the Prairies

SexualAssaultandDisabilityﾅﾇﾇ

From Plowshares to Pum pjacks: R. M. of Cymri: Macou, Mi dale, Halb rite(Midal e: R.M. of Cymr i Histor y Book Soci ety, 1984) at 9 4.

Farmers at thresh ing time

From Plowshares to Pum pjacks: R. M. of Cymri: Macou, Mi dale, Halb rite(Midal e: R.M. of Cymr i Histor y Book Soci ety, 1984) at 6 08.

Fair time at Midale