Development of Social Programs

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25 April 2011

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Development of

Social Programs

A hundred-and-fifty years ago, government had

very little to say about the plight of the poor,

almost the only help available came from charities

In a January 2009 publication, David Seymour writes about the system operated in Victorian England. In his Frontier Centre for Public Policy report, Seymour says Canada had many of the same institutions that the British put together.

He comments on a few of the features of what passed for social services a century and a half ago:

By the end of the 19th century just about all working men belonged to “friendly societies;” workers made a weekly contribution to a fund that helped them out if they became unemployed or injured;
With few exceptions, hospitals were privately funded. Those who could insured themselves through friendly societies or through the doctors and hospitals. Those who didn’t have insurance had to rely on charity; and,
Charitable giving was the means of funding most “social programs.” People donated up to 10 percent of their family income to charities – today, the average is closer to one percent.

Living Conditions of “Labouring Classes”

In 1842, Edwin Chadwick (below) wrote a report on living conditions in Britain’s towns and cities.

He found the “labouring classes” lived with a stench “produced by decomposing animal and vegetable substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings [prevailing] amongst the population in every part of the kingdom.”

This, he concluded accounted for epidemics of disease that swept through poor neighbourhoods. Often, large families were forced to live in a single room because the wages would stretch to nothing bigger.

Poorhouses Set up for the Destitute

For the people who couldn’t survive on their meagre earnings there was the workhouse, often called the poorhouse in Canada. Conditions inside were intended to be unpleasant to discourage anyone from seeking a free bed and meal.

Here’s a description from workhouses.org: “Men, women, children, the infirm, and the able-bodied were housed separately and given very basic and monotonous food such as watery porridge called gruel, or bread and cheese.”

Everybody had to wear a rough uniform and could have a supervised bath once a week. Parents were only allowed to visit briefly with their children on Sunday afternoons.

The able-bodied were put to hard labour such as stone breaking. “By the 1850s, the majority of those forced into the workhouse were not the work-shy, but the old, the infirm, the orphaned, unmarried mothers, and the physically or mentally ill.”

Social Reformers Persuaded Governments to Help

Seeing the poor living in such horrible conditions pricked the conscience of many Victorians and the social reform movement got underway. Slowly, governments were persuaded to take a more active role in helping the less fortunate.

Edward and Mary Cridge (below) provide a good example

B.C. Archives

of the social activism of the Victorian era. Devout evangelical Christians the couple travelled from England to Victoria, British Columbia in 1854. The rough and tumble world of the colony became even more unruly during gold rushes.

During the 1858 Fraser River gold rush a lot of unsavoury characters passed through Victoria and the Cridges campaigned on behalf of the less fortunate people in the community.

Their work with the underprivileged led them to get involved in opening Victoria’s first hospital and a home for orphans. Edward Cridge also pressured the government to improve the terrible conditions in prisons.

Social Programs Slow in Developing

Despite the encouragement of the Cridges and many others, governments remained very reluctant to offer assistance to the poor.

Even the Great Depression of the 1930s failed to prod Canada’s government to take action. Many people suffered enormous hardship.

Here’s how the Canadian Encyclopedia describes the situation: “It is estimated that between 1929 and 1933 Gross National Expenditure declined by 42 percent, by the latter year 30 percent of the labour force was unemployed, and one in five Canadians became dependent upon government relief for survival.”

But, it wasn’t until 1940 that an unemployment insurance program was set up. Family allowances came in 1944, and when prosperity returned after the end of World War II, governments started to think more seriously about social programs to help the poor.

Sources

“Forced Entry - How Government Came to Dominate Welfare.” David Seymour, Frontier Centre for Public Policy, January 5, 2009.

“Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain.” Edwin Chadwick, 1842.

“Edward and Mary Cridge.” B.C. Protestant Orphans’ Home Project, History Department, University of Victoria.

“Great Depression.” James Struthers, Canadian Encyclopedia.

The only option for unemployed single men during the Depression was to go into a relief work camp operated by the military where they were paid 20 cents a day. The men were employed clearing bush and planting trees as well as road construction and putting up public buildings.

According to the 2009 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada: “Over two decades, the rate of child and family poverty has gone down slightly, to 9.5 percent (637,000 children) in 2007 from 11.9 percent (792,000) in 1989.”

And, this happened during a period of strong economic growth.