British Home Children In Canada Essay

In Canada around 1914, as the first world war brewed, there was a major decrease in population. There were fewer men to work the lands, to take care of animals and to take charge of domestics. In Britain, during the same time, impoverished families struggled to provide essential care for their children. In an attempt to solve both country’s problems, Britain sent over 100,000 children between the ages of 4 months and 18 years to fill the population vacancy in Canada. The young British children who were ripped from their poor parents arms were distributed to farms across Canada. Although the immigration scheme was seen as a brilliant solution and it was thought that the children from Britain would have a better life, they suffered ill treatment and slavelike conditions. The era of British Home Children was a regrettable event that was a stain in Canadian history. Believed by Canadians to be orphans, only two percent really were. In most cases these children were taken from intact …show more content…
A ton of campaigns, posters, PSA’s and letters were sent out to the farmers informing them of the shipments of children that would be arriving. There was such a need in Canada there were 7 applications for each child immigrant. Farmers would literally line up to get a child and the British Home Children would wear a cardboard sign around their neck with their details. To the farmers, the home children were considered slaves. The idea that the children would be adopted into the families and cared for as their own, was not implemented. (Ada Allan, a British Home Child) -"All those years, I didn't know what it was to be loved. In those times when they hired you, it was to work. I didn't sit at the table with them...I ate by myself. I was a servant. This grew on me. I felt very inferior even though I knew I was an honest