Background: British society’s view of the indigent

Upper Canada, now Ontario, was legally created by the British government in 1791 and lasted until 1841 when it was combined with Lower Canada, Quebec, to form the Province of Canada. The British government placed John Graves Simcoe to act as the first lieutenant governor and as chief administrator was responsible for introducing institutions such as courts of law, trial by jury, English Common Law, freehold land tenure and the abolition of slavery. He did not import the English Poor Law because the province had no authorities in place to enforce it.

The English Poor Law ensured that the poor were housed in workhouses and clothed and fed. Children in the workhouse would receive some schooling. In return for this care, the workhouse paupers would have to work several hours each day. Most occupants were ill, elderly or children whose labours were largely unprofitable. Many unwanted children were left in its care as well. During times of financial depression, many unemployed found themselves in workhouses.

There was a recognition that the destitute should receive some basic support, but also that they should work for that support from the rest of society. By 1832, in Britain, a Royal Commission proposed that poor houses operate on two principles: the pauper should have to enter a workhouse with conditions worse than that of the poorest free labourer outside of the workhouse, and, any relief should only be available in the workhouse. These workhouses were to be so uninviting that anyone capable of surviving outside them would choose not to be in one. In reality, many had no choice and had to take whatever conditions existed in a workhouse.

Waterloo County’s view of the indigent

In 1837 the Legislature of Upper Canada passed an act authorizing districts to build and maintain Houses of Industry where the “poor and indigent and persons living a lewd, dissolute, vagrant life were obliged to labour”, but it was amended in 1846 permitting townships to raise taxes for the indigent, sick and infirm. The Waterloo County council rejected applicants’ requests for support and dumped the responsibility onto the smaller townships.

Prior to Confederation, many saw poverty as the result of a person’s stubborn refusal to work and save, and so the poor required a house of corrections in which they could be disciplined so as to change their attitudes and behaviours into working for their own self-sufficiency. Those opposed to a House of Industry and Refuge argued that such a place would “pander to the idle and profligate” and encourage “miserable people” to enter the country and be parasites on those here supporting themselves unaided. The argument was to put such people in jail for poor relief. Thus, the insane sometimes ended up in jail. [Webmaster’s observation: Not much has changed in the attitudes of many people in Ontario today.]

In 1866, a year before Confederation, the United Provinces of Canada passed the Municipal Institutions Act making it mandatory for all counties with 20,000+ people to build a House of Industry and Refuge within two years.

Waterloo County planned for an institution that could accommodate 100 paupers and treat them “generously and humanely” for about one dollar per head per week. Men were separated from women and children from adults, “Idiots” were separated and special cells were kept for vagrants or those who broke the House rules. There was a wood shed, wash house, bakery and small hospital ward.

[Photo: Waterloo Historical Society]

In 1868, the newly created Province of Ontario voted that Counties no longer had to provide a House of Industry and Refuge, but Waterloo was still legally obligated by contracts issued to go ahead and build. An inspection in 1870 found a “Potter’s Field” where, in unmarked graves, lay the inmates who had died through the year – including a consumptive, a 92-year-old and a 3-pound abandoned baby. The inmates ate in silence and at day’s end were locked in their rooms. It appears that this refuge was provided due to legal rather than moral obligations. The poor house was a visible reminder of the consequences of moral and physical weakness. [Source: “Waterloo County” by Geoffrey Hayes, pages 53 – 55]

The House of Industry and refuge was located on Frederick Street in Kitchener in front of where the A.R. Goudie Long Term Care Home and behind Frederick Street Mall are today. It was in operation from 1869 until 1957. It is estimated that there are 260 unmarked graves.

[Webmaster’s observation: A visit to almost any small town community cemetery will locate an area of unmarked graves of those who were indigent or residents of the local workhouse when they died. It appears that unmarked graves were common occurrences during history here and in other parts of the world.]