Leonard Jan Le Vann

Who was Leonard Jan Le Vann?

Dr. Leonard Jan Le Vann was the medical superintendent at the Alberta Provincial Training School for Mental Defectives from the years 1949–1974. Although he was born and raised in the United States, Le Vann trained as a physician in Scotland. Throughout his career Le Vann wrote many articles, the majority of which were published during his 25-year career at the Provincial Training School. These articles covered a broad range of topics that include alcoholism, schizophrenia and experimental treatments of antipsychotic drugs. In 1974 Le Vann resigned from the training center, which was due to the Conservative Party of Alberta’s repeal against the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta. Furthermore, there has been plenty of controversy about how he ran the school. This controversy has been brought to attention mainly because of the Leilani Muir trial that took place in 1995. Although Le Vann was already deceased at the time of the trial, his name was brought to the court’s attention on many separate occasions.