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When members of Canada’s military returned from battle during the Second World War their needs surpassed the ability of hospitals such as the Christie Street Military Hospital and The Chorley Park Hospital to provide for their medical and health care needs. In 1943 the Department of Veteran Affairs commissioned the architectural firm of Allward and Guinlock, to build the newest, and largest, centre for veterans’ health care in Canada. Chief Architect for the hospital’s construction was Hugh Allward, the son of Walter Allward the sculptor of The Vimy Monument. The first patient was admitted to Sunnybrook Hospital on September 26, 1946.
Broadcast on CBC Radio, on 12 June, 1948, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King’s officially opened of Canada’s largest veteran’s hospital. In his address, King said: “Sunnybrook Hospital symbolizes sacrifices made by those members of the armed forces whom this hospital aims to serve, and seeks to honour…My earnest hope is that it may equally express our resolve to share in the building of a better world in which the need for veterans’ hospitals will no longer arise.” With 1,200 beds and a full range of services, including prosthetics, recreation, physical therapy and rehabilitation, the staff at Sunnybrook provided for the medical needs of those who had served and returned as veterans of war.
On 1 October 1966, the administration of Sunnybrook Hospital transferred from the Department of Veterans Affairs to the University of Toronto. The cost of this transfer was one silver dollar. As a teaching hospital and open to a much broader community the core of service remains with care of Canada’s veterans. During the next decade Sunnybrook was transformed with the obstetrics and gynaecology and neonatal departments, the first trauma and emergency unit and fracture clinic in Ontario, an air ambulance program, burn unit and cancer centre.
Since 1948, Sunnybrook has evolved from its original role as Canada’s largest Veterans’ care hospital into an internationally recognized centre for excellence in health care, education, and research. Today approximately 11,000 staff, physicians, volunteers, and students continue to transform healthcare. Their work and dedication has improved the lives of the one million people who come through the hospital doors each year.
