Abstract
In 1974 I published a study of the condition of the working class in Montreal, The Anatomy of Poverty,’ which has become something of a standard work on social conditions in Montreal. The book had a curious history in that the work began as an inquiry into the development and ideology of urban progressivism in Canada’s largest city. Influenced by the growing list of books on American urban progressivism, I originally set out to examine such groups as the Civic Improvement League, the Charity Organisation Society, the Metropolitan Parks Commission, the Children’s Aid Society, and a number of other like organisations. The records of these groups were readily available and it was not a difficult matter to relate their activities to a larger North American, and indeed North Atlantic, context.
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NOTES
Terry Copp, The Anatomy of Poverty (Toronto, 1974).
See, for example, Paul Rutherford’s review of The Anatomy of Poverty in the Canadian Historical Review (CHR), vol. LVI, no. 4 (1975).
See Neil Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society (Toronto, 1978) and P. T. Rooke and T. L. Schnell, ‘Childhood and Charity in Nineteenth Century British North America’, Histoire Social (HS), vol. XV (May 1982) pp. 137–79.
Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society, chapter 14.
Quoted in Jean-Claude Robert, ‘The City of Wealth and Death: Urban Mortality in Montreal 1821–1871’ (unpublished, 1984) p.13.
Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society, p. 56.
See Claudine Pierre-Deschênes, ‘Santé publique et organization de la profession médicale au Québec, 1870–1918’ Revue d’histoire de l’amerique francaise (RHAF), vol. 35 (December 1981) pp. 355–75; and Martin Tetreault, ‘Les maladies de la misere - aspects de la Santé publique a Montreal, 1880–1914’, RHAF, no. 36 (March 1983) pp.507–26.
Pierre-Deschênes, ‘Santé publique’, p. 369.
City of Montreal Municipal Assistance Dept, Annual Report (1911) p.45 and Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society, p.61.
Ibid. (Annual Report 1913) p. 50.
Pierre-Deschênes, ‘Santé publique’, p. 73.
Robert, ‘The City of Wealth and Death’, p. 25.
Andrée Levesque, ‘Deviant Anonymous: Single Mothers in Quebec in the 1830s’, paper presented to the Canadian Historical Association, June 1984.
H. Letu and C. O. Gagnon, Mandéments, Lettres Pastorales et Circulaires des Eveques de Montreal, 15 vols (Montreal, 1877–1924).
Joseph Levitt, Henri Bourassa and the Golden Calf(Ottawa). I wish to thank Professor Levitt for reflecting on this question with me. He agrees that it is not an issue of major concern and cannot recall any expression of fatalism towards infant deaths in the writings of the major nationaliste figures.
Richard Arés, ‘Le Pére Joseph-Papin Archambault s.j. et l’Ecole Sociale Populaire’, RHAF, vol. 35 (March 1982) pp. 563–88.
Marta Danylewyez, ‘Changing Relationships: Nuns and Feminists in Montreal, 1890–1925’, HS, vol. XIV (November 1981), suggests that the Federation Nationale St. Jean Baptiste, the Francophone women’s organisation, founded in 1907, ‘launched a campaign in 1912 to reduce the staggering rate of infant mortality’ (p. 421). ‘Participated in’ would be a more accurate description of the Federation’s role.
The Maclennan Library, McGill University, holds an incomplete collection of Annual Reports including those of St. Paul’s Church (Presbyterian), St. George’s (Anglican), Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul (Presbyterian), and Erskine and American (Methodist).
These points are discussed in The Anatomy of Poverty, chapter 6, Public Health’.
Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society, p. 100.
Ibid., p. 114.
Bettina Bradbury, ‘The Fragmented Family’, in Joy Parr (ed.) Childhood and Family in Canadian History (Toronto, 1982).
The Anatomy of Poverty, p. 112.
Montreal Children’s Aid Society, Annual Report (1909), p. 1.
Ibid., 1911, p. 3.
Letter from A. Winnen to E. P. Lachapelle, 28 January 1913, printed in Annual Report, Montreal Municipal Assistance Dept. (1913) pp.6–9.
Ibid., p.9.
The Anatomy of Poverty, pp. 120–122.
Ibid., p. 69.
See Claude Galarneau, Les Colleges Classiques au Canada Francais (Montreal, 1978), and for women’s colleges, Danylewyez, Changing Relationships.
Ruby Heap, ‘La Ligue de l’Enseignment (1902–1904): Heritage du Passe et Nouveaux Défis’, RHAF, vol. 36 (December 1982) pp. 339–73.
See Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society, chapters 10–13, for a survey of English-Canadian reforms.
Ruby Heap suggests that a major revision of the primary school programme took place in Quebec between 1905 and 1920, including school medical inspection, the introduction of science courses and domestic science for girls. In 1912 a new primary programme which emphasised practical education was adopted by the Catholic ‘Committee of the Council of Public Instruction’, and in 1920 a further revision which, among other things, condemned rote learning, was adopted (ibid., p. 370). I do not think anyone who has read L’Enseignement Primaire, the journal of the Catholic Committee, or examined the Reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, would confuse these revisions with child-centred education. Above all it must be emphasised that in Montreal few children remained in school long enough to come into contact with the new subjects which were, of necessity, in the upper grades.
The Anatomy of Poverty, p. 61.
I agree with Ruby Heap that Godfrey Langlois and other members of the Ligue did argue for more technical and practical education, but their arguments were not developed from the point of view of the welfare of children. Godfrey Langlois, the leading figure in the pre-war movement for compulsory education, wrote frequently on the subject as editor of Le Canada and subsequently in his weekly Le Pays.
L’Enseingement Primaire was published monthly by the Catholic Committee of the Council of Public Instruction.
Sir William Macdonald, a Montreal tobacco merchant and philanthropist, was a leading figure in promoting school reform particularly in rural areas, and the Protestant schools of Quebec were influenced by the formation of Macdonald College of McGill University which became the major innovator in teacher education in Canada. See Sutherland, Children in English-Canadian Society, chapter 11.
See George D. Butler, Introduction to Community Recreation (New York, 1949).
Montreal Parks and Playgrounds Association, Annual Report (1910) p. 3.
The Annual Report for 1904 lists the members of the Association at the time of incorporation.
Annual Report (1910) p.6.
See especially Thèrése Hamel, ‘Obligation scolaire et travail des enfants au Québec: 1900–1950’, RHAF, vol. 38 (1984) pp. 39–58.
Sutherland does not discuss the child labour question except in relation to compulsory school attendance.
Guy Laperriere, ‘Persécution et exit: la venue au Québec des congregations francaises, 1900–1914’, RHAF, vol. 36 (1982) pp. 389–412.
B. L. Vigod, ‘Ideology and Institutions in Quebec: The Public Charities Controversy 1921–1926’, HS, vol. XI (1978) pp. 167–82.
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© 1989 D. C. M. Platt
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Copp, T. (1989). The Child Welfare Movement in Montreal to 1920. In: Platt, D.C.M. (eds) Social Welfare 1850–1950. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10343-0_3
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