In the October 16, 2024 issue of the Quill, I discussed the history of the Original Building and Clark Hall here on campus. This article was the first in a series that focuses on the history of each building, their impact on campus, and the history of the person the buildings are named after. The purposes of these articles are to understand how we got to where we are today – taking both the negatives and positives into consideration – and whether or not we need to act as students to change the names of buildings to appropriately reflect the values and diversity of our campus. This issue’s article, the second in the series, will focus on the third oldest building on campus: the Knowles-Douglas Students’ Union Centre.
In 1922, the Citizen’s Science Building was completed on Brandon University’s campus at a third of its initially planned size. Financed by the citizens of Brandon, the after-effects of World War I, mainly the recession, lowered funding for the then-new science building. The Depression and World War II further inhibited the growth of Brandon University’s campus, both financially and student-wise, as most of the soldiers going off to fight in the second world war were college-aged. No other buildings were added to campus until the 1960s. In 1984, the Citizen’s Science Building was renamed to the Knowles-Douglas Student Union Centre in honour of two Brandon University graduates, Stanley Knowles and Tommy Douglas, both of which were from the class of 1930. An addition to the building was completed in 1987.
Stanley Howard Knowles was born June 18, 1908 in Los Angeles, California but moved to Canada in 1924 to study at Brandon College. His mother’s death from tuberculosis and his father being fired from a machinist’s job inspired him to become a socialist politician and study theology. He received a Bachelor of Arts in 1930 at BU, then continued with a degree in theology at United College and a degree in economics and philosophy at the University of Manitoba. He was an ordained minister with the United Church, and officiated weddings, christenings, and funerals when not fulfilling his parliamentary duties, as Knowles is most known for his role in Canadian politics. Knowles helped found the NDP out of CCF and won 12 federal elections from 1945-1979 after being elected to the federal House of Commons from Winnipeg North Centre in 1942. Over the course of Knowles’s political career, he used his knowledge of parliamentary procedure to promote social justice. In the later years of Knowles’s life, he was the Chancellor of Brandon University (1970-1990) and when he retired from politics, he was made an honorary officer of House in 1984 with a place at the Clerk’s Table. He died on June 9, 1997 in Ottawa, Ontario.
Thomas “Tommy” Clement Douglas, the other name attached the Students’ Union Centre, was born on October 20, 1904 in Falkirk, Scotland. He was the premier of Saskatchewan, helped set up the universal healthcare system, and was the first leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Douglas started his life in Canada when his family immigrated to the country in 1911, settling in Winnipeg. There, Douglas went under surgery for a leg wound that would not heal, known as osteomyelitis, and was operated on for free by Dr. R.J. Smith under the condition that medical students could track his recovery, one of two major events that led to Douglas’s belief in free healthcare. The Douglas family moved back to Scotland during WWI but returned to Winnipeg in 1919, witnessing the General Strike and the protests as they turned deadly in the streets, with protestors being killed by the North-West Mounted Police. Douglas went to Brandon College in 1924 for theology and excelled. He went on to complete a master’s degree at McMaster, where he completed a thesis on eugenics. One idea in his thesis promoted the sterilization of those with mental defects and incurable diseases. While these ideas are horrible to our modern mindset, they were not uncommon at the time and some states and provinces even enforced this sterilization through laws. Just as the world learned, so too did Douglas, it seems, as he abandoned his support of eugenics in 1944.
In 1930, Douglas married Irma Dempsey and became an ordained minister, moving to Weyburn Saskatchewan during the Great Depression. There was no school or healthcare in the small town due to the depression, and he buried a 14-year-old girl who died of a ruptured appendix which would not have happened if she received proper healthcare. Douglas developed a belief that the government needed to help people and became involved with the Co-operative Commonwealth Foundation (CCF). Douglas quickly became successful in politics with his ability to make people laugh, with his most well-known funny anecdote being the story of Mouseland. In 1944, he became the premier of Saskatchewan and held the position for 17 years where he passed the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights in 1947 (the Canadian Bill of Rights was passed in 1960), created a government-funded health insurance in 1947 (Canada followed this example), and developed a full health care plan for Saskatchewan in 1961 (in 1966 the federal government followed suit with a plan that eventually became Medicare). Douglas resigned as a premier in 1961 but became the leader of the New Democratic Party, losing the 1962 election before retiring. He died on February 24, 1986 in Ottawa, Ontario. Douglas had two children, Joan Douglas and Shirley Douglas. For any film fanatics out there, you may recognize Shirley Douglas from her roles as an actress, but if this name does not ring a bell, you might know of her husband, Donald Sutherland, or her son, Kiefer Sutherland.
Now, neither of these political figures are largely controversial that we know of, apart from Douglas’s brief support of eugenics which he condemned later in life. In fact, honouring these political figures through the Knowles-Douglas Student Union Centre seems acceptable with their contributions to changing government ideals to better reflect individual citizens, especially Douglas’s part in our universal healthcare system. I guess I will leave it up to you all, do you think Knowles and Douglas deserve to be honoured through the name of the Students’ Union Centre? Or does their role as white, male political figures outweigh their arguably good accomplishments?
Sources: S.J. McKee Archives, The Canadian Encyclopedia, The Government of Canada, Manitoba Historical Society, and Wikipedia.