History of Robertson College

Robertson College’s vision began in 1911 after founder M.I. Robertson decided to emigrate from Scotland to live with her sister and brother-in-law in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In Edinburgh, Scotland, Mrs. Robertson worked in the city hall. It was thought that Mrs. Robertson was married and had a husband who had been a ship’s sea captain, but there is no proof of this as Mrs. Robertson never mentioned it. Back then it was not proper protocol to ask, or to speculate private matters. Nonetheless Mrs. Robertson came to Canada with her young daughter.

When she arrived to Canada she lived in a small shack with her daughter, sister and brother-in-law near the railway. She and her sister then started a court reporting business by the name of Dominion Stenographic Service. Part of her work was taking in “apprentice” based students, Mrs. Robertson, her sister and employers noticed the need and the quality of apprentices that they were putting forth. It was in 1919 that the judicial courts began to hire their own shorthand stenographers; which helped evolve the business into a shorthand school.

It was noted in the 1921 Saskatoon Henderson Directory that Mrs. Robertson began to advertise her business as Dominion Business College. In 1923 it was then advertised as the Robertson Shorthand and Secretarial School when her sister and husband moved to British Columbia.

It is believed that Mrs. Robertson saw education as a way to help young people, as she had the skills and tools to oversee this. Mrs. Robertson documents during one of the Saskatchewan Minimum Wage Board Meetings of the concern of young girls coming to the city seeking employment. Many employers were not willing to pay well, and many of these young girls were employed as waitresses, thus long hours. The girls needed a place to sleep, and therefore slept on the floors of their place of employment and still had no money for winter clothing or basic sustenance.

Mrs. Robertson stopped teaching in the school in 1942 where she handed off her role to Mrs. Lepine who later purchased the college. Mrs. Robertson died in 1958.

The school then evolved into the Saskatoon Robertson Career College, but closed its doors in 1990, as a result only leaving the Winnipeg Campus which opened shortly after it was originally purchased in 1980. The school was later sold in 1985; the school curriculum was expanded and major restructuring changes were made, including expanding to different campuses and programs in the Prairies. In 1993, the college was rebranded to from Robertson Career College to simply Robertson College.

In 2001, it was purchased by Midwestern School of Business and Technology in Winnipeg and has since become a multi-campus college. The College was moved from Portage Avenue in Winnipeg to the historic Exchange District at 265 Notre Dame Avenue. The College shifted its focus to Healthcare, Business and Information Technology programs.

In 2004, Robertson College added an additional campus in Calgary, Alberta. The campus initially focused on training Pharmacy Technicians and over the past few years has expanded its focus to Business and Healthcare. As well in 2004, the college started its first international partnership in China. In China, the Live-In Caregiver program is taught to help Chinese students immigrate to Canada. Since 2004, Robertson College has added other training partnerships in Senegal, Morocco, Mauritius and the United Kingdom.

Recently, an online training division for Robertson College was created. In early 2009, the college saw that there was a need to offer online training to students who are not able to attend a traditional “bricks & mortar” setting. The Online Training Division, Robertson College Online, provides students the opportunity to pursue their career goals through distance and part-time education.

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