According to Scott's handy and self-described 'bare-bones' history of social work in Vancouver, the first professional social worker in Vancouver was Laura Holland who arrived in 1927 to head the Children's Aid Society. Courses in 'Social Service' commenced at UBC in 1929, administered by C. Wesley Topping. It was the third program of its kind in the country, preceded only by University of Toronto (1914) and McGill University in Montreal (1918). A Vancouver branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON) had been established in 1898 after Lady Aberdeen used her influence with Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier to found the Order in Canada in 1897. This led to the establishment of a School of Nursing at the Vancouver Hospital in 1899.

Scott received her Masters in Library Science at the University of Western Ontario and an MA from Carleton's Institute of Canadian Studies. Long interested in social policies, she wrote her thesis on the inequalities in the administration of Canadian legislation pertaining to abortion. From 1988 to 2003 she was the social work librarian at the University of British Columbia. In that role she recognized the need for a written summary of how professional social work evolved in Vancouver. Her 79-page, well-researched, coil-bound, self-published booklet covers the period from 1867 to 1930.

DATE OF BIRTH: May 24 1946

PLACE OF BIRTH: Vancouver, B.C.

EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: Librarian

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Establishing Professional Social Work in Vancouver And At The University of British Columbia (s.p. 2004)

[BCBW 2004] "Health"