Home children (Canadian immigrants)

Home Children was a British child migration scheme operating from the 1600s to the 1970s, under which more than 150,000 children were sent from the United Kingdom to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa. The practice of sending poor or orphaned children to British colonies began in 1618, but gained momentum in the late 19th century. Emigration programmes were organised by philanthropic organisations, were intended to provide education and training, and were presented as a humanitarian effort. However, most of the children were not orphans, there were few safeguards, and many of the children faced exploitation and abuse as cheap labour on colonial farms or in domestic service. Child emigration from Britain was largely suspended beginning in the 1930s, but was not completely terminated until the 1970s. The emigration schemes received criticism at the time, but research beginning in the 1980s exposed the full scale of the abuse and the hardships of the relocated children. In 2009, the Australian government issued a formal apology to the Home Children. This was followed by a UK apology and a £6 million compensation fund in 2010. Canada declined a formal apology, instead designating 2010 as the ‘Year of the British Home Child’. Today, an estimated one in ten Canadians is a descendant of a Home Child.