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The records in this series underscore the impact of an upbringing where the tenets of Christianity, public service, and duty were emphasized. They begin with thirty years (1937 – 1969) of files on Camp Kagawong, a privately owned boy’s camp on Balsam Lake, where Dr. Hastings spent his summers as a young boy enjoying the outdoors. The leadership qualities he displayed led to his becoming a camp counsellor (1944 – 1945) and, from 1946 – 1950, director of the Bantam Section and instructor in nature, first aid, swimming and games. During those years he dramatized three folk tales for presentation. At the weekly chapel services, he often delivered homilies or ‘sermonettes’, a practice he continued throughout his association with the camp until a few years before it closed in 1975. He served as camp doctor for a number of his vacations between 1952 and 1967. Dr. Hastings’ activities at Camp Kagawong are well documented through notes, certificates, correspondence (much of which is in Series 3) scripts for theatrical presentations, chapel service programs and sermonettes, and some of the annual camp catalogues, photographs and artifacts. The arrangement of the files in this section is largely chronological.

The material on Camp Kagawong is followed by files on Canadian Council of Churches and its Vellore/Ludhiana Committee, of which Dr. Hastings was a member from 1962 – 1975 and to which he was an advisor from 1975 to 1981. These are followed by files on the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, including extensive ones documenting the work of the International Review Team, of which he was a member, that visited Vellore in 1979 and produced a report on its findings the following year. His wife and daughter accompanied him on this trip.

Next are files on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953; the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, of which Dr. Hastings was a member of the board; Emmanuel College, where he was a University representative on its council and a member of its curriculum committee; the King’s College Fund which in 1985 organized a Canadian study tour of health services in Britain and, in the same period reciprocal study tours in Canada, based on the Department of Health Administration at the University of Toronto. (Dr. Hastings and his family lived at the King’s Fund College during several visits in London.) He was active in the youth clubs of the Progressive Conservative Party in the 1940s, attended the 1948 convention at which George Drew was selected leader, and took part in the federal election the following year.

Dr. Hastings’ place of worship for many years has been St. Andrew’s United Church at 117 Bloor Street East in Toronto. He played a very active role in its affairs, serving on its Session and Official Board since 1956, many of its committees, was a member of its Men’s Club and, on occasion, delivered the sermon of the week. The files cover the years from 1952 to 1973, when St. Andrew’s and the Yonge Street United Church amalgamated, and include correspondence, notices of services, minutes of meetings, reports, and drafts of three sermons.

This series ends with a number of files on Dr. Hastings’ involvement in several activities of the United Church of Canada, centering around his being a member of its task force on health services (1985 – 1987) and its Division of Mission in Canada’s health task group (1991 – 1994). Included are correspondence, minutes, memoranda, notes, drafts of reports, and a video, “Taking the pulse of Canadian health care” that grew out of the work of the health task group.

John Hastings began his education at the Normal Model School in Toronto in 1933, went on to the University of Toronto Schools in 1939, and from there into the pre-medicine program at the University of Toronto in 1945. He received his MD in 1951, then did post-graduate work in the School of Hygiene, receiving his Diploma in Public Health (DPH) in 1954. Missing from this series are files relating to his specialty qualification of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Public Health (FRCP(C)) and the Diploma in International Health Planning (DIHP) from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.

This series documents Hastings’ progress through the educational system and the development of his academic and non-curricular activities. The files on the Normal Model School contain certificates, class assignments, press clippings, drafts of two plays that Hastings wrote, and the school badge. Hastings’ interests in drama were carried over to the University of Toronto Schools, where he wrote a number of plays, drafts of which have survived in this series, and one of which was published in its yearbook, the Twig, in 1943. At UTS, he also honed his public speaking and debating skills; the predominant themes of his public addresses being democracy, the British Empire and World War II. Hastings was a reporter to the Twig for his form and editor in 1943 – 1944 (his editorial files have survived). He was also a member of the school band and the cadets, developed an early interest in politics and became an active member of the Young Progressive Conservatives for a number of years. At the same time he maintained a high academic standing.

In 1944 Hastings entered a worldwide essay competition sponsored by the Royal Empire Society. His entry was one of three to receive a prize. This encouraged him to enter other essay contests while a pre-medical student at the University of Toronto (1945 – 1947). As an undergraduate at the U of T, he was a member of the Hart House Debates Committee from 1949 to 1951 and served as its secretary for two years; his detailed notes reveal something of the parry and thrust of debating at that time. Among other activities, Hastings was a student member of the Board of Stewards of Hart House and the U of T Historical Club. In 1948 he participated in the Mock Parliament, attended by then Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. The remainder of this series contains notes, correspondence, certificates, and photographs relating to Hastings’ acquisition of his medical degree and his post-graduate diploma in public health.

A detailed listing of his activities while a student is found in B2002-0014/014(09).