Child Labour In Canada

Child Labour in Canada

Children forced into harsh conditions, forced to work for long and never ending hours, all this for the bare minimum; That is Child Labour. It is a topic that I have been slightly drawn to for it is an important but tragic part in Canada's history. "What was a Labourer's day like?", this question is what I have been basing my research on as I believe it is something that can be quite interesting as well as insightful to understanding their situation. As everyone knows Children have been labourers for much of human history, they were usually seen as an economic asset for their families.

This way of "Child Labour" differs from the ways of the past, these children were forced to work in harsh conditions and for many

There were small movements and acts of defiance like those mentioned by books on child labour, but no real abolishment happened until well into the 20th century. A group of social reformists at this time had the intention of improving the Canadian society and along with this, were concerned with child labourers. These people had supported compulsory education in Canada and tried to take "measures to combat juvenile delinquency", at this point they had sought to ban child labour. After multiple conditions happening, this had prompted provinces in the 20th century to enact laws that ended up restricting children from working. So what happened was, "Legislation restricting child employment in mines was enacted in Nova Scotia in 1873, and British Columbia in 1877. By 1929 children under 14 had been legally excluded from factory and mine employment in most provinces.". These provinces had also enacted legislation that school attendance from children had been required and that families that refused to comply had sanctions imposed on them. To get a sense of the timeline which followed suit, most provinces had legislation requiring compulsory school attendance for children 8-15 by 1891, then The Adolescent School Attendance Act in Ontario was passed in 1921 which increased the age to 16 in urbanized areas. After compulsory attendance, the provinces had started gradually restricting child employment based on age and the grade levels which they had passed. Five years later an organization known as "The International Labour Organization" had "established a convention that defined slavery as "...the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised...." and identified child labour." In 1930, they had broadened the convention to specifically mention child labour. Then to completely abolish child labour,