Help on Homework Please and Thank-You! (History)?

Question

I need information on Child Labour from the 1800s in Canada. If you know of any good sites or you have written something for class(I will not pledgerise).



Note:It HAS to be from the "1800s" and "Canada".



Thanks for the help!!

Answer 1

Attitudes toward child labour (the regular employment of boys and girls under the age of 15 or 16) have altered dramatically since the late 18th century, when it was generally assumed that from about age 7 children should contribute to the family economy (see CHILDHOOD, HISTORY OF). In most cases, this meant assisting parents, but it could also entail paid employment outside the home. Such activity might include the acquisition of skills useful in adulthood, possibly even a formal apprenticeship. Child labour made an important contribution to native culture and to the societies of New France and early English Canada.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries most Canadian children, formerly economic assets, became economic liabilities to their families. Boys' and girls' time was increasingly taken up in securing a formal education. By 1911 about 85% of all children 10-12 years old in Canada were in school. Proportions of 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds enrolled stood at 78%, 63% and 42%. The proportion of boys aged 10-14 who were gainfully employed had dropped from 25% in 1891 to 5% in 1911, although that of girls remained steady at 2%. (An important indicator of the decline in child labour is the steady increase in the percentage of children attending school.)

Opportunities for paid employment probably broadened for the minority of children not in school. From the mid-19th century Canada began to undergo industrialization and urbanization. As the proportion of urban residents grew from about 17% at Confederation in 1867 to over one-third by 1901 and almost one-half by 1921, new jobs for children became available in Montréal textile mills, Hamilton businesses, Cape Breton and BC mines and small manufacturing enterprises in the Maritimes. While the number of children 10-14 years old employed in agriculture dropped from 62 700 in 1891 to 5400 in 1911, the total otherwise gainfully employed, primarily in business and industry, actually expanded from 13 000 to about 20 000.

Several conditions combined to end child labour in Canada. Many jobs were "dead end": poorly paid, menial positions without any opportunity for advancement. Some positions, such as those of messenger boy and newspaper vendor, did not lead to adult employment. Moreover, most children holding jobs came from working-class backgrounds and were of special concern to middle-class reformers intent on improving Canadian society. As well as supporting compulsory schooling and measures to combat juvenile delinquency, reformers sought to ban child labour. Although the first provincial legislation regulating child labour in factories and mines had been passed in the 1870s and 1880s, the prohibition of child labour came only in the new century.

Answer 2

Mackenzie King worked with Jane Addams and others for reforms of all types. i do know that he visited other settlement houses in London, New York, and worked in one in Toronto. Seeing the he was an expert in labor and labor relations, he may be a good lead. I searched "child labour" in his diaries. Several pages came up in the search.

You can be the judge of how good the quality of the info is. http://king.collectionscanada.ca/EN/Default.asp