Church groups, orphanages, and workhouses in Britain could no longer support the growing numbers of children in their care by the mid-19th century. The solution was to send orphans and abandoned children to other Commonwealth countries. It is estimated that between 1869 and 1948 Britain dispatched 100 000 children to Canada to work on farms or as domestic help. In some cases, siblings were sent to different locations. Many of the children thrived in their adopted country. Others suffered abuse, poor working conditions and loneliness.
“Little Immigrants” left an undeniable legacy on the Canadian landscape. Approximately 4 million Canadians can trace their ancestry to these children. Through their descendants, they share a haunting, little talked about tale of Canadian history.
Phil Coleman, Conservative MP for Brant, whose uncle was a home child, successfully introduced a private members’ motion that declared 2010 the Year of the British Home Child. The motion unanimously passed in the House of Commons in late 2009.
This September, Canada Post honoured the Home Children with a commemorative stamp. The stamp features the SS Sardinia on which children sailed from Liverpool to Québec, a map symbolizing their cross-Atlantic journey; a photograph of a child at work on a farm, and one of a newly arrived Home Child standing beside a suitcase while enroute to a distributing home in Hamilton, Ontario. The frame around the photo symbolizes the relationships they developed in Canada.
NEITHER WAIF NOR STRAY
Dad, we lived with you for all those years
Without regard for your silent tears
You never let your thoughts be shown
Or the secrets of the youth you'd known
As life went on and our knowledge grew
We searched that inner part of you
But buried deep within your past
Were memories that would last and last
A past of which you were ashamed
But never spoke and never blamed
I wish you would have let us share
Your broken heart and deep despair
For you were neither waif nor stray
But one of many torn away
From your country, friends and kin
To an unknown world forced to begin
Without the love and kindness shared
Within the hearts of those who cared
You made the best of the years you had
But left this world alone and sad
Leaving behind for those like me
Your stolen youth and identity
If only dad we'd been a part
Of all you carried in your heart
M. Pauline King (in loving memory of her father, Edward King, a British Home Child)
For more information: http://activehistory.ca/2010/09/2010-is-year-of-the-british-home-child-in-canada-but-some-descendants-want-more-from-ottawa/
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