In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

As the years went by and Betsy got older, she started to realize why they could not get some of those things they wanted. It was hard for her mother to keep up with the bills, food in the house, clothes on their backs and a roof over their heads. Betsy’s mother was a very hard worker to keep the family together giving them lots of love. They were happy with just that.

Later through the years, Betsy started having health problems and was taken out of school for a while. She had not completed grade ten. Being out of school for some time, Betsy did not bother to go back. Betsy soon got job in Digby at an Arcade, where her mother was a manager. After about a year Betsy decided to move to Toronto, Ontario. There she got a job right away. Betsy stayed with a cousin of hers who had a twomonth old daughter. Betsy soon became supervisor at her job. She started to save her money for her own apartment. In the year of 1986 she got her wish, her very own apartment. It is hard when you live with family. She also got another job that paid more money. By 1988 Betsy was twenty-eight years old, working at a great job and in her sixth month of pregnancy.

On January 29th, 1989, Betsy had a beautiful baby boy. She took a year off work to spend with her son. In April of 1991, Betsy’s sister, who was the mother of six children, moved to Ontario. The three oldest lived with their grandmother in Nova Scotia, the three youngest she brought to Ontario. Things did not go well for her and after a month, the children were placed in foster care.

Betsy did not want to see the three of them end up in foster homes, so she went to the courts to fight for custody of them. In the month of June, 1991, Betsy got her niece who was one year and four month old, her two nephews, one just turned a year old, and the other one was three going on four, and Betsy’s son was one year and five months old. So you can see how they were all just babies; two were still in diapers.