Canada Post
Canada Post - Home Children Stamp
Childhood Lost – with short clip from the documentary
Childhood Lost - The Story of Canada`s Homechildren

On Thursday 9th September 2010, I went to the unveiling of the stamp for the British Home Children in Canada at the Library & Archives Canada. If you don’t already know the story of the British Home Children the condensed version is this. From the 1860s to the 1930s over 100,000 orphaned and impoverished children were brought over from Britain by well meaning but naive philanthropists to be trained as farm labourers or domestics in Canadian homes. These idealists believed that these children would benefit from what Canada had to offer. The reality was Canada just wanted them for cheap labour. The move was disastrous for some and lonely for most. Over 12% of the Canadian population is descendant from these children.

At the Library and Archives, there were plenty of posters, programs and people to greet you in the entryway to the event. One of the impressive Home Children memory quilts was on display there as well. They had a book explaining the story behind every section on that quilt. There was as well, a small exhibition of the contents of a trunk a home child would have brought with him to Canada. The backdrop behind the trunk explained what a home child was and the circumstances that brought them to Canada. There were brief narratives of the trials and tribulations of what they would have endured on the trip over here and once they arrived. Adjacent to the trunk was an audio display of recreations of some home children’s experiences. There was some very heart wrenching stories. Unfortunately, I cannot accurately recall any of them. What I do recall is how horrified I was that children would be treated in such a manner. It brought home the idea that providing food, shelter and clothing is not the only thing a child requires to flourish.

The event itself had a number of keynote speakers. At first I was alarmed that Jason Kenney the minister in charge of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism was not there, but the politicians that chose to stand in his place had special connections to the home children story and proved to be a very powerful orators. M.P. Phil McColeman led the way with opening remarks. I was very impressed with the next speaker, Senator Gary St. Germain. He told the story of his grandfather’s first night with the family he stayed with. Because they were not initially sure about the child’s health, he had to stay in the barn. As the night wore on this tired, lonely frightened boy started to hear strange sounds. When he awoke he found a tribe of Sioux were camped outside the barn he was sleeping in. If a story like that cannot fire the imagination what can? The speaker for Canada Post, was my cousin, Douglas Jones. He informed us that he too is a descendant of a home child; that there is hole in our family history, so little is known about him. No stories of his adventures were passed down to us. He noted it was important to acknowledge their accomplishments, spirit and courage as well as their trials and hardships. The stamp designed by Debbie Adams has 2 photographs on it. One is of a lone boy standing by his suitcase awaiting the rest of his journey. The other photograph is of a small boy ploughing a field. The drawing at the bottom is of the ship the SS Sardinian, one of the steamships that brought the children from Liverpool to Quebec. Personally, I think she chose well. The voyage over is the common experience they all would have had in common, so too is the back breaking labour. There is only so much you can put on a 57¢ postage stamp. Thank you Canada Post I think you did a great job.

The moving documentary «Childhood Lost» was shown. If you can watch that program without getting at least a lump in your throat then you are not paying attention or your heart is made of stone. I have seen this program on the History Channel a few times and I still tear up.

Unfortunately, only one home child was in attendance. He said the saddest part of his experience is not knowing what happened to the rest of his family. Time is something you can never get back, and what is done cannot be undone, but there are some things that can be done to answer some basic questions.

In my opinion it would be a grand gesture on the parts of the Governments of Canada and Britain to get together and link up and digitize the records of all of the organizations and make the records of these children free on the Internet. (My ancestor is not a Banardo child) It does no good to us to make the search for information cost prohibitive, especially when searching for the children is largely hit and miss. For example I have to look for the name John Jones, can you imagine how long that would take?

I have been monitoring the news media for coverage about these little waifs, but it seems to be conspicuously absent. There was more attention brought to them when Australia and Britain apologized to the Home Children in 2009 than there is in the actual year of the Home Child in Canada. Typical? I havent read much on it in Canada`s History Magasine either. Please someone tell me I am wrong…or is Canada ignoring her history once again…