Home Children

There are two plaques titled "Home Children" on this page.
The first is in the County of Perth.
The second is in the City of Ottawa.

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted May, 2009

Photo by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted June, 2011

Plaque Location

The County of Perth
The City of Stratford
At 51 Avon Street, east of John Street North

Coordinates: N 43 22.350 W 80 59.508

Plaque Text

Between 1869 and 1939, about 100,000 child immigrants, casualties of unemployment and poverty in Britain, were uprooted from their homes and families. With hopes of giving them new lives in Canada, British agencies sent children to receiving homes like this one. From there, a few of the younger children were adopted into Canadian families, but most were apprenticed as agricultural labourers or domestic servants. Often deprived of education and the comforts of family life, Home Children suffered loneliness and prejudice. Their experience reveals a poignant chapter in Canadian immigration history.

Photo by Alan L Brown - Posted June, 2005

Plaque Location

The City of Ottawa
On the north side of Wellington Street
half a block east of Parkdale Avenue

Coordinates: N 45 24.088 W 75 43.657

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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Posted February 28, 2010
Why is this Stratford building associated with the Home Children? Was it a "Distribution Centre" like the building in Ottawa with a Home Children plaque?

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