Indigent Committees and Ladies Benevolent Societies: Intersections of Public and Private Poor Relief in Late Nineteenth Century Small Town Ontario

Abstract

To be poor in late nineteenth century small town Ontario did not differ significantly from the experience of poverty in other areas of the new Dominion. Poverty meant the lack of sufficient food and clothing, and in the long winters, the prospect of suffering cruelly from the cold. The misery of poverty did not differ much across the country, and between small towns and large centres, but the nature of available assistance did vary considerably. While in the Maritimes the British Poor Laws were implemented, and Quebeckers could receive assistance from church-run welfare institutions, Ontario has been known for the range of voluntary charitable organizations which sprung up in the absence of a Poor Law framework. Such organizations were particularly visible in larger centres. As is the case with much of Ontario social history, however, the urban experience has been used to define the reality of all Ontarians of this period.