The Background

Some of the children who were sent to Canada came from the British reformatories and industrial schools. This was always a sensitive issue since Canadian legislation debarred the entry of anyone with a criminal record, and public opinion could easily be inflamed by the claim that this prohibition had been evaded. In fact, it was only those who had been committed to a reformatory who were specifically precluded from entering the country, but even then there was the disputed question of whether an exception could be made in the case of those who had been fully discharged rather than released on licence. The position of the industrial school children was more ill-defined and less well understood. What was the distinction between these two groups?

Although before the 1850s there had been a number of schemes for the institutional reform and training of young offenders, or for those on the threshold of delinquency, it was the 1854 Reformatory Schools Act, followed three years later by the Industrial Schools Act (and in 1866 by a combined Act) that heralded their rapid expansion. The first piece of legislation enabled courts to send children under the age of 16 (a minimum age of 10 was subsequently introduced) to a reformatory, but only after the expiry of a prison sentence. Such children could be kept in the institutions for between two and five years or until they reached the age of 18 (and later 19). The second Act gave courts the authority to order that children up to the age of 14 be sent to an industrial school and retained there until they were 15 (later 16). The grounds on which such an order could be made were extensive, and further additions were made from time to time. One aim was to combat child vagrancy and begging, but those who were found wandering and destitute, or who were known to frequent the company of thieves, for example, could also be dealt with in this way. So too could those under 14 who were charged by their parents with being beyond their control.