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Home Children
by Ellen Scheinberg, historian, and Angèle Alain, Library
and Archives Canada
Between 1869 and the early 1930s, Canada received over
100,000 juvenile immigrants from the British Isles. Most of these children had
been brought up in poverty, and were homeless or living in the urban slums of
Britain. Some were accused or even convicted of petty crimes. Many were orphans,
while others were simply the victims of poverty, illness and misfortune. These
children were typically placed in orphanages or workhouses by parents or kin who
could not afford to take care of them.
The intent of the juvenile immigration
program was to place these children with good Canadian families and thus increase
their chances of leading happy and prosperous lives; but not all of the stories
were happy ones.
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