Among the thousands of young men who marched off to the First World War and never again saw their home country was Colonel Edwin Albert Baker. Col. Baker lost his eyesight at Flanders Fields on October 10, 1915, while serving in the 6th Field Company of the Canadian Engineers. Despite his disability, he became a world leader in the provision of services for the visually handicapped, a founder of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and its managing director for forty-two years.
 

In 1960, Lt. Col. Edwin A. Baker received from Helen Keller, in New York, the first international award of the American Foundation for Overseas Blind. [Photo, courtesy Canadian National Institute for the Blind]

Born on the waterfront of Lake Ontario in Ernestown Township west of Kingston in 1893, Edwin had just graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in electrical engineering in 1914 when he enlisted for the war. After his tragedy, he found inspiration at St. Dunstan’s Blinded Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Hostel, in London, England, operated by Sir Arthur Pearson who promoted a philosophy of independence and self-reliance.

Back in Canada, Baker met and married a daughter of “Black Jack” Robinson, the editor of the Toronto Telegram who helped Edwin get a job at the Ontario Hydro Electric Commission.

In 1916 Baker joined the board of a library renamed, in 1917, the Canadian National Library for the Blind. Baker and six others then organized the CNIB in 1918 and Baker became its managing director in 1920. Baker realized the limitations facing the disabled and the lack of training facilities for them. His goal was to establish the kinds of institutions he had “witnessed” in Britain and give “a new outlook” to rehabilitation centres. His philosophy stated, “You can’t judge anyone by what he’s lost – only by what he does with what’s left.”

His role at the CNIB soon made the institution world renowned. He promoted special provision for disabled veterans,workmen’s compensation, medical research into disabilities, eye-saving classes, special transportation arrangements, education,library services in Braille, and an eye bank. Always taking note of irony in his position, Baker once said, “Part of my job is to open society’s eyes. By a twist of fate, I’ve turned from electrical to human engineering.”

In the international sphere, Baker headed the Sir Arthur Pearson Club of Blinded Associations, was a trustee of the American Foundation for the Blind, and a founder and, in 1951, the first president of the World Council for the Welfare of the Blind. When he retired in 1962, the E.A Baker Foundation was established to set up further research into the causes of blindness andthe means of prevention.
 

Lt. Col. Edwin A. Baker, O.B.E., C.C., M.C., Croix de Guerre, B.Sc., LL.D., U.E. [Photo, courtesy Canadian National Institute for the Blind]

Three sons and a daughter were born to Edwin and Jessie and they were raised like any other children on the block. Their father taught them to swim, fish, camp, and play baseball.

He was an inspiration to many when services were scant and when a social stigma was attached to those with disabilities. He peeled away ignorance, taught by example, lobbied on behalf of others, and was a leader extraordinaire. His elevation to the position of Lieutenant Colonel in his old regiment is a measure of the esteem in which he was held by his peers.

Edwin Baker’s honorary awards were many. Some were of international distinction. Among others, he was awarded the Military Cross, the Croix de Guerre, made an Officer in the Order of the British Empire, was the first recipient of the Helen Keller Award presented by the American Foundation of Overseas Blind, and Helen Keller personally presented him with the American Migel Medal in 1951. Among the first to be awarded a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1967, Baker, at the time, was honoured by Governor General Roland Michener who observed,” ... there are no limits to what anyone of us can accomplish in the service of mankind.”

Baker is remembered today as a very special individual who taught that the disabled and handicapped can perform serious and demanding work. One tribute stated that, without him, “all sightless and amputee Canadians would have faced a longer and more difficult struggle against tradition and prejudice.” After his death in 1968, the Toronto Star saluted him in an obituary:“Both those that see and those that do not should be grateful that Edwin Baker saw things as he did.”

Larry Turner