British Home Children

This past Tuesday Maureen Salter gave us a very enlightening presentation about British Home Children, who were sent from the British Isles to Canada during the late 1800s through 1948. An estimated 4 million Canadians are descendants of these "Home Children."

Most Canadians believed the children were orphans, but generally this was not the case. They were used as servants in households and farms throughout Canada.

Most distressing was the fact that siblings were separated and no effort was made for those children to know their heritage. Some were placed with families who eventually adopted them, but many spent their childhoods in such poor conditions that they never talked about it as adults.

Maureen has a special interest in these children, and she showed how she was able to discover the background of her husband's grandmother.

Thanks, Maureen, for educating us about this particular part of Canadian history.