The History of Social Welfare in Canada: Early Experiments & Programs

Vocabulary flashcards covering the historical evolution of social welfare, poor laws, labor unrest, and income security policies in Canada from the colonial era through the Great Depression.

British North America (BNA) Act of 1867

The constitutional statute that allocated the administration of social welfare, hospitals, and prisons to the provinces, while assigning broad national responsibilities such as trade, taxation, currency, and defense to the federal government.

Almshouses

Institutions adapted from British and French poor relief traditions designed to house and shelter the aged, sick, and helpless who were unable to work.

Workhouses

Institutional facilities established under poor law models to house able-bodied paupers, where inmates were compelled to perform hard manual labor under punitive conditions in exchange for food and shelter.

Comprehensive Legislation of 1688

Poor relief policy introduced in New France built on a three-fold approach: preventing starvation, finding work for individuals, and ending public begging.

Deserving Poor

A historical category of relief applicants comprising individuals unable to work through no personal fault—such as widows, orphans, the blind, disabled, and elderly—who were deemed entitled to aid.

Undeserving Poor

A historical classification under poor laws for able-bodied individuals considered capable of working but viewed as idle or vagrant, who were subjected to forced labor, whipping, or incarceration rather than assistance.

Local Residency Requirement

A poor law regulation requiring an individual to reside within a specific parish or municipal jurisdiction for a designated length of time before qualifying for local relief.

Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601

An English legislative act that placed formal responsibility on local parishes to assist the deserving poor, compelled able-bodied paupers to work, and mandated filial responsibility by fining relatives 20 shillings per month for neglecting destitute family members.

Outdoor Relief

Financial assistance, food, or in-kind support provided directly to individuals and families in their own homes without requiring them to enter an institution.

Indoor Relief

Assistance delivered exclusively inside dedicated institutional settings, such as poorhouses, almshouses, and workhouses.

Doctrine of Less Eligibility

The principle mandating that public relief payments must be set lower than the earnings of the lowest-paid independent laborer, ensuring that seeking assistance remained unappealing.

Residual Social Welfare

A welfare framework in which the state intervenes only after all other safety nets—such as family, the free market, and private charity—have completely failed.

Social Control (in Social Welfare)

The regulatory function of welfare policies wherein the state monitors families, dictates acceptable conduct, enforces strict eligibility conditions, and intervenes into private life under the framework of providing care.

Charity Aid Act of 1874

Ontario legislation that established structured government grants and state regulatory oversight for private charitable institutions, marking a transitional step toward public social welfare.

Ontario Workman's Insurance Act of 1914

The first social insurance legislation enacted in Canada, which established the principle that injured workers are entitled to cash compensation as a statutory right.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919

A six-week general strike involving 30,000 workers protesting post-World War I poverty, joblessness, and poor working conditions, which was suppressed by federal back-to-work orders, deportation amendments, and the RCMP.

Veterans' Pensions (1919)

The first universal income support benefit in Canada, introduced after World War I in response to social unrest, which provided payments based on service status rather than a financial means test.

Mothers' Allowance

Means-tested provincial welfare benefits established in Canada during the 1920s to provide financial support to mothers with dependent children.

Old Age Pension Act of 1927

Canada's first cost-shared social program, which provided a means-tested monthly pension to non-Indigenous Canadian citizens aged 70 and older, funded 50% by the federal government and administered by the provinces.

Relief Camps

Federal Great Depression-era work camps established for single unemployed men who were required to perform hard physical labor in exchange for room, board, and low pay, while being prohibited from voting or union organizing.

On to Ottawa Trek (1935)

A Depression-era protest where over 1,500 striking relief camp workers from British Columbia boarded eastbound freight boxcars to travel to Ottawa to demand 'work and wages' from Prime Minister R.B. Bennett.

Regina Riot (1935)

A violent confrontation on Dominion Day in Regina, Saskatchewan, provoked when RCMP and federal authorities attempted to arrest leaders of the On to Ottawa Trek during a peaceful public gathering.

Keynesian Economics

An economic theory developed by John Maynard Keynes proposing that governments should intervene in the economy through public spending and social safety nets to stimulate consumer demand and ensure economic stability.

National Unemployment Insurance Act (1935)

A federal social insurance initiative introduced by Prime Minister R.B. Bennett that was subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada because unemployment relief fell under provincial jurisdiction under the BNA Act.

Welfare State

A system of governance under which the government accepts statutory responsibility for providing essential social services, basic financial security, and protection against socioeconomic hardships for all citizens.