Second World War

At the beginning of the Second World War, Ste. Anne's (now under the Department of Pensions and National Health) got a new lease on life. Two new wings were designed in 1940. Buildings G and H were constructed, rapidly adding 320 beds to the hospital's capacity. By late 1941, the hospital had 672 beds.

A recreation hall was built in 1942 but, in 1943, part of the building was destroyed by a fire in the canteen. At that time, the hospital had no fire fighting equipment, no fire doors, no functional hydrants. Fire fighting equipment had to be brought in from Dorval and water pumped from a pond.

The fire was followed by a period of extensive construction and reconstruction. A larger canteen was built and the old service buildings were replaced by a concrete building. In 1944, a new administrative wing was added which is still in use today as the veterans' craft shop. In the same year, the lack of fire protection was remedied with the installation of a new water-main/ hydrant system.

The Red Cross Lodge for visitors, built beside the Administration Wing, was opened on March 22 that same year. Previously, friends and families of patients were accommodated in the village on Ste. Anne Street. At the time, quarters for occupational therapy staff and patient recreation were located in a building near the water.

By 1945, Ste. Anne's Hospital had almost attained its present capacity. On February 28 of that year, records indicate that 95% of its 1,022 beds were occupied.

On March 20, 1945, the Army opened Queen Mary Hospital near the Côte des Neiges area in Montreal to lighten the burden on Ste. Anne's. As a result, some three hundred beds were freed up to accommodate tubercular patients.

The Second World War officially came to an end on September 2, 1945. About two weeks later on September 18, Ian Mackenzie, head of the new Department of Veterans Affairs, wrote to his counterpart, C.D. Howe, at the Department of Munitions and Supplies, asking for authorization to build health and occupational centres in a number of locations: Vancouver, Winnipeg, Saint John, and Senneville (a location very close to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, on the shores of Lake of Two Mountains). Charles David was to be the architect of this new project to be built on the Senneville Golf and Country Club property. This club had gone bankrupt and the government had had its eye on the site, one of the finest in the Montreal area, for some years.

On March 16, 1946, Dr. John C. Mackenzie of Veterans Affairs submitted a report on the projected needs for a tuberculosis hospital at Senneville. This was to be a hospital for diseases of the chest because, as he pointed out, hospital for tuberculosis patients was an inappropriate name. Reflecting the ideas of the time, he asked that the hospital be designed to allow patients to benefit from fresh air, plenty of sunshine and pleasant surroundings. Senneville was the ideal location. He insisted that each building have a solarium, a roof-top terrace, and lots of windows. The hospital would be equipped to administer recreative therapy and heliotherapy. Construction was begun immediately and slated for completion within six months.

Senneville Lodge, as it is now called, could accommodate up to 275 ambulatory patients in its various buildings grouped around a central canteen and recreation halls. On June 1, 1950, the building was attached to Ste. Anne's Hospital. To this day, Ste. Anne's patients, staff and visitors can play nine holes of golf on what remains of the original eighteen-hole course. But in 1990, with the passage of time, the building had to be closed for the winter months. Its resident veterans were given a place of honour at Ste. Anne's Hospital.