Home Children

Photo by Alan L Brown - June 30, 2005

Plaque Location

The City of Ottawa
On the north side of Wellington Street just east of Parkdale Avenue

Plaque Text

Beginning in 1869, British charitable societies removed children from slums and orphanages in congested industrial cities and brought them to Canada to serve as cheap farm and domestic labour. "Homes" were set up across the country to house the girls and boys until they were placed in service. Monitoring of the children after placement was superficial, leaving them susceptible to mistreatment. Child emigration was discontinued in the 1930s when the Great Depression created a labour surplus in Canada. By then, up to 100,000 children had been transported. This building, formerly known as St. George's Home, was one of many distribution centres in Ontario.

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