The Birth of a Journal: The Canadian Journal of Public Health at the Beginning of the Xxth Century: The First in a Series of Five Historical Articles to Commemorate 100 Years of Cjph./Naissance de la Revue Canadienne de Sante Publique Au Debut Du Xxe Siecle: Premier D'une Serie de Cinq Articles Historiques Commemorant Le Centenaire de la RCSP (100 YEARS OF CJPH: SPECIAL HISTORICAL NOTES/LE CENTENAIRE DE LA RCSP: NOTES HISTORIQUES SPECIALES‪)‬

From the perspective of our 21st century world of prodigious journal publications and scientific communication, the birth of yet another journal merits little attention. Not so one hundred years ago when the publication of a professional journal was the essential public statement of the profession's status and authority. The founding of The Canadian Journal of Public Health (CJPH) in early 1910 and the formation of the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) later that year demonstrate the extent to which a journal was seen as a critical tool in promoting a shared sense of professional identity and endeavour. Indeed, by reading the early issues of the journal, one can see how it was a critical part of the movement to promote public health in Canada by uniting the various practitioners involved through a shared association, annual meetings and a monthly publication. The foundation laid almost one hundred years ago has endured to today. The first decades of the 20th century were an exciting period for the growth of public health in North America. Institutions were developing training programs in hygiene and public health. In Montreal, a Chair of Hygiene was established in 1902 at McGill University and a School of Hygiene, l'Ecole d'Hygiene Sociale Appliquee de l'Universite de Montreal, in 1925. The University of Toronto officially opened its School of Hygiene in 1927. To the south, in 1910, Abraham Flexner's monumental report on medical education in the United States and Canada was released with its focus on a physician as "social instrument". (1) Training and academic research were married to front-line health care delivery with the Rockefeller Foundation's underwriting of public health, medical research and education in North America and Europe.