7

The Late Nineteenth Century

Providing crucial services and
spearheading social reform

THE LAST DECADE OF THE 19TH CENTURY SAW THE BEGINNINGS of major voluntary organizations concerned with health care. Notable examples include the St. John Ambulance Association in 1877, the Canadian Red Cross Society in 1896 and the Victorian Order of Nurses in 1897.

Many other organizations were founded to provide much needed social services. First organized in Montreal in 1851, centres of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) were being established in other larger communities in the last quarter of the 19th century.

Then as now, these associations relied on volunteers to raise funds, to help run programs and to serve on the management board. Guided by an ideal of health that promoted the development of the body, the mind and the spirit, the YMCAs initiated fitness and recreational programs and residential summer camps for boys from all segments of the community. With their aim of fostering well-being, self-confidence and competence, these organizations made a major contribution to children's social welfare at that time.

The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) was introduced into Canada in 1870 in Saint John, New Brunswick. Within five years, local associations were also founded in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax. By the end of the century, Kingston, Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Brantford, Peterborough, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Victoria all had local YWCAs.

The primary objective of the YWCA movement was to improve the status of Canadian women by fostering leadership potential and self-reliance in young women and by helping them develop skills, while also promoting physical and spiritual well-being.

The local YWCAs rapidly established themselves as respected institutions in their communities. With the help of volunteers, they ran employment bureaux and room registries for young women, homes and training centres for girls in trouble with the law, social and fitness clubs, summer camps, and libraries. Many also offered training courses for young women in office and cooking skills which were the first of their kind in their communities.

From the 1890's onwards, Canadian volunteers played an important role in bringing about social change through active involvement in social reform movements and the labour movement. These advocates challenged society's norms in a period that tended to deny citizens what many by that time regarded as basic rights (such as decent housing, adequate health care and free access to education).

For example, labour groups advocated on behalf of the retired citizens who were no longer able to support themselves adequately. Women's groups fought for legal equality for women, including the right to vote. Social reformers took up the plight of children, whose neglect and abuse was becoming especially evident in large urban centres.

In 1897, local women's organizations in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax formed a coalition known as the National Council of Women. Volunteers worked at both the local and national levels to improve the legal status of women, particularly their rights with respect to their children. (Fathers had exclusive rights over children at that time.) The Council and its local affiliates also sought to reduce infant mortality and to improve the health and welfare of Canadian children.

Across Canada, advocates for children's rights argued passionately that all children should be protected from ill treatment, sensitively cared for if orphaned or neglected, and reformed if in trouble with the law. Volunteers promoted a good home life as crucial in the prevention and cure of delinquency.

They also advocated the concept of foster homes as a substitute for the child's own home in cases of neglect or severe abuse. (Prior to this period, children were generally viewed as needing very strict treatment if they were to develop into mature adults, and abandoned children were kept in institutions, often under harsh conditions.)

Through the hard work of dedicated volunteers, social reform gained a broad base of community support. By the turn of the century, there was a virtual revolution in ideas and methods for the care of children.

In response to the growing public acceptance of society's responsibil- ity to care for neglected and delinquent children and to intervene on their behalf, the Children's Aid Society of Toronto was organized in 1891.

Although receiving public money and vested with statutory responsi- bility for the care of children, this was a private organization under a volunteer board of directors and it relied on salaried staff and volunteers to run its services. Through new legislation in Ontario, the Society was given guardianship over neglected children.

The concept of foster care (whereby caring citizens volunteer their time and parenting skills to raise children in their own homes on a temporary basis) was also introduced and funded by public sources.

Over the next two decades, the system of Children's Aid Societies spread to cities and towns throughout Ontario and also to Nova Scotia, Manitoba and British Columbia. Canada was thus in the international forefront of child welfare.

In the field of literacy and basic adult training, Toronto-based Frontier College emerged in 1899 as a pioneer and leader. Its innovative programs addressed the educational needs of working people across Canada, particularly immigrants who were unable to read and write in the languages of their adopted country, and of others who had had little or no opportunity for education.

Volunteer tutors from Frontier College joined logging operations and railway camps and went into mining towns and fishing villages in remote parts of Canada to reach those working and living in difficult conditions and to empower them through literacy and learning. Tutors worked side by side with labourers and, on a voluntary basis in their free time, taught them basic educational skills. During its first twenty years, over 600 volunteer instructors trained by Frontier College served in virtually every province and territory of Canada.

The crusade against tuberculosis (the main cause of death in Canada at the turn of the century) gave birth to Canada's first national voluntary organization in the health area in 1900 þ the Canadian Tuberculosis Association (which later became the Canadian Lung Association). Its original aim was to provide facilities such as residential sanatoria and centres for diagnosis and treatment in the care of TB patients.

8

Into the Twentieth Century

Crusading for the welfare of children
and improving human services

IN THE EARLY DECADES OF THE 20TH CENTURY, SOCIAL REFORMERS CONTINUED to work through voluntary organizations to prod and support government efforts to improve the health and well-being of Canadian children.

The priorities of these organizations were the high rate of infant mortality, poor pre-natal care, the lack of support for mothers in caring for their babies, and the impurity of milk and water supplies. Other concerns included the education and the social development of underprivileged children and overcrowding and poor housing conditions in the urban slums.

Advocates in smaller cities and towns and in rural districts joined in this crusade on behalf of Canadian children, which had previously been active only in the larger cities. Local associations of the National Council of Women sprang up across Canada and chapters of the Women's Institute and farm women's groups also took up this cause.

Montreal, in particular, became the site of an enormous volunteer effort to improve the conditions of children's lives. The Montreal Council of Women, for example, began a campaign to reduce infant deaths in their city. Volunteers undertook to inform the public on the importance of pasteurizing milk, and they set up a dispensary to provide pure milk to infants in needy families.

In 1912, a host of community groups, led by the Montreal Council of Women, sponsored a major exhibition on children's health and welfare issues aimed at arousing public interest in these critical issues. This sparked similar exhibitions in cities and towns across Canada over the next few years.

The period between 1900 and 1920 also saw a growth in the number of services offered by major voluntary organizations to promote the social development of children. Existing programs were expanded and new organizations came into being.

The Boy Scout movement came to Canada in 1908 (the same year that it was established in England), and the Canadian General Council was incorporated in 1914. Based on the principle of respect for others and self, the Scouting movement aimed to encourage boys to become responsible, involved citizens. Adult leaders volunteered their time to run programs that offered interesting and challenging opportunities for boys from all segments of society in order to develop their mental, physical, social and spiritual potential.

The Girl Guides organization was established in Canada in 1910, and there were soon branches from coast to coast. The Canadian Council was incorporated in 1917. Committed to the ideals of personal development, self- reliance and respect for others, volunteer leaders organized programs for girls that aimed to promote practical and leadership skills and to instil a sense of service to the community, while also developing physical and emotional fitness.

Both the YMCA and the YWCA movements expanded and grew in strength through the early decades of the 20th century. For example, summer camps for girls were established in various regions.

In 1912, the Big Sisters program, which matched female volunteers with needy girls in a one-to-one relationship, was initiated in Canada by the YWCA in Toronto. That same year, the Canadian National Council of the YMCA was formed.

The Big Brothers movement was introduced into Canada in 1913 with the establishment of an agency in Toronto. To ensure the well-being and social development of fatherless boys, this unique program paired them with adult volunteers as special friends in a relationship which could last for several years.

In 1918, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) was born. In an era when government-sponsored social services were virtually non-existent, this voluntary organization responded to the desperate need for services for veterans blinded in the First World War and for other blind and visually impaired Canadians.

In addition to programs to help them develop practical living skills, many of the CNIB's early clients needed emotional support and help in obtaining food, clothing and shelter.

Since an important goal of the CNIB was to ensure that the world of reading remained open to blind and visually impaired Canadians as a vital link to society, a lending library became a key part of the organization in 1919. Volunteers began transcribing into braille literary and educational materials which were then sent out to the CNIB's clients on request.

The Toronto Family Service Agency was founded in 1914. Similar voluntary organizations were established in many urban areas across Canada over the next decade. These agencies were aimed at keeping the family unit intact and oriented primarily to individual and family counselling. Assisted by volunteers, professional social workers ran services that provided support and direction to families under stress. Homemaker and daycare programs were also commonly available.

During the great flu epidemic of 1918, volunteers from the St. John Ambulance Brigade served in hospitals and cared for the sick in their homes. In several small communities, volunteers took complete charge of the hospitals when the entire staff was stricken with the flu.

St. John volunteers were sent to a coal mining settlement in Alberta, where the entire group of miners had come down with the deadly infection. In between nursing their patients, these volunteers chopped wood for the fires and cleaned the bunkhouses.

9

The Twenties

Growth in social services
and health organizations

BY 1920, CANADA WAS MOVING AWAY FROM ITS FARMING ROOTS and becoming a mainly urban, industrialized society. Although the decade between 1920 and 1929 witnessed economic progress and material prosperity, some Canadians were still in desperate need of help. As a result, there was increasing pressure on government to take greater responsibility for health and social welfare.

As a result of social unrest, such as the Winnipeg General Strike, the federal government made its first major entry into the area of income security in this period. Various financial aid programs were established for veterans who were unable to find employment after their return from the First World War and for widows and orphaned children of soldiers.

A national program of allowances for the elderly, determined by need, was also introduced. These were the first steps towards an eventual federal policy on social welfare.

The number of voluntary health and social service agencies continued to grow during the Twenties, with volunteers taking an active role in management, fundraising, and the front line of service delivery. A number of religious organizations in larger urban areas founded missions for transient and homeless men. Advocacy for social reform continued to occupy the agendas of many volunteer organizations during this period.

The Canadian National Council on Child Welfare was formed in 1920, with the support of local chapters of the National Council of Women and a number of Protestant churches. Organized and run by volunteers, this organization was a strong advocate of children's rights. It was particularly concerned with the fate of immigrant children who, by virtue of being paupers or orphans, had been sent to Canada by the British government in large numbers since the time of Confederation.

By 1926, the Council's mandate expanded to include all underprivileged citizens, as reflected in its change of name to the Canadian Welfare Council.

The Community Chest movement (which later developed into the United Way) was launched in Canada in 1918 with the founding of the Toronto Federation for Community Services. During the 1920s, this concept of a centralized canvassing effort for voluntary social service agencies in the community spread to other cities. Montreal and Winnipeg, for example, adopted this cooperative form of volunteer fundraising as a practical solution to the increasing number of local charities and public appeals.

10

The Great Depression

Responding to urgent need

WITH THE STOCK MARKET CRASH IN 1929 AND THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE THAT FOLLOWED, many factories were closed. Large numbers of people across the country were left without a way to earn a living. This situation was made even worse by a seven-year drought on the Prairies that caused serious food shortages and massive migration from the farms to cities in search of work.

During that decade of hardship, people across the country were left without the means to obtain food, shelter and proper clothing. For many, the downswing in the economy brought despair. The few public relief agencies were quickly overwhelmed, and many municipal governments (to which the responsibility had been left) were virtually bankrupted by the demand for relief.

Although the federal government responded by creating work projects and labour camps for the unemployed, this was not enough to meet the desperate need.

It fell to caring individuals, religious groups, and voluntary organiz- ations such as the Canadian Red Cross Society, to provide relief for the hungry and homeless during the 1930s. Ad hoc volunteer groups sprang up across the country to meet the need. Soup kitchens and bread lines were established; clothing was collected and distributed to the needy; various missions provided shelter for homeless men. All of these activities depended on massive volunteer energy.

In the health domain, cancer was the disease that drew public attention during this period. In 1938, the Canadian Cancer Society was founded to educate the public about the vital importance of early detection and treatment of cancer.

Over the years, as local branches sprang up across Canada, the Society's mandate was expanded to include direct services to cancer patients. Volunteers offered practical help and emotional support to cancer patients and their families. They visited hospitals and homes, paying special attention to the elderly and those who lived alone.

11

The World Wars

The essential role of volunteers
in supporting the War Effort

THE TWO WORLD WARS CLEARLY DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITY OF CANADIANS, both as members of voluntary organizations and as individuals, to mobilize in times of crisis.

The First World War brought unprecedented co-operation among major health-related organizations (notably the Canadian Red Cross Society and St. John Ambulance Association) to assist the war effort both on the home front and overseas. During the Second World War, these voluntary organizations responded with even more impressive measures of assistance.

During both wars, St. John Ambulance volunteers actively supported Canada's war effort on the home front. They were responsible for first-aid training for all military service personnel and for civil defense workers, as well as for civilians. They prepared civilian air raid wardens for possible emergencies.

These volunteers put in long and difficult hours of service to sick and wounded soldiers returning to Canada for rehabilitation or convalescence, even accompanying them to their homes. They also provided training for care-givers at home and assisted nursing staff in all military and public hospitals across the country.

Volunteers from the St. John Ambulance Association were also actively involved in the civil defence movement during the war years. Large- scale programs to maintain civilian warning systems and to train local citizens in survival techniques were organized and run exclusively by volunteers.

Later, during the early Cold War period that followed the Second World War, when concern for emergency measures and civil defense loomed heavy in the minds of Canadians, St. John Ambulance volunteers would attempt to prepare citizens for the horrors that a nuclear holocaust might bring.

Overseas, volunteers with the Canadian Red Cross Society worked to provide relief to civilian victims in war-torn countries. The St. John Ambulance Association organized and trained Voluntary Aid Detachments whose members came from the volunteer Brigade units across Canada. Volunteers from these detachments served in air raid shelters, prisoner of war camps and mobile surgical units, as well as in both military and civilian hospitals in Europe and East Asia.

During the Second World War, with more and more men drafted into the armed forces, most volunteers were women. In larger cities such as Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver, Women's Voluntary Services were established to assist the war effort. WVS volunteers ran day nurseries for the children of women employed in war industries and collected clothing for civilians in war-torn countries in Europe. They also assisted the staff of war service bureaux and worked in emergency blood donor clinics managed by the Canadian Red Cross Society.

The two World Wars and the Depression that was sandwiched between them dramatically demonstrated our vulnerability as individuals and our need for mutual support. During those three decades, many thousands of once self-sufficient Canadians, particularly veterans who had become sick or disabled or were unable to find work and farmers who had lost their land, found themselves unable to provide for themselves and their families.

This new awareness was eventually to lead to the creation of our modern-day system of health and social services in which public programs and services are complemented and greatly enhanced by a vast network of voluntary agencies.

12

The Post-War Years

Changing expectations about the role of Government
and the birth of new voluntary organizations

FOLLOWING THE SECOND WORLD WAR, THERE WAS DYNAMIC GROWTH IN INDUSTRY and the economy. The standard of living increased dramatically, and our society became more urbanized. During this period, the baby boom and a large wave of immigration caused a major increase in the Canadian population.

Despite its growing prosperity, Canadians remained scarred by the deprivation and anxiety they had endured through the Depression years. They yearned for security, and needed assurance that such a great catastrophe would never occur again. The eventual result was unparalleled government involvement in welfare, health and education.

The Depression had given new focus to the political and economic struggles of the nation and played a significant role in triggering the call for increased public intervention in health care and social welfare. There was also a growing recognition of the extent and effects of illness and poverty.

Enormous changes in social welfare took place in the post-war era, as governments started to respond to the pressures of volunteer advocacy groups by assuming a much greater role in the health and social welfare of Canadian citizens.

From World War II onward, government came to assume responsibility for a wide range of services that had previously been provided by private organizations and delivered by volunteers.

This was the beginning of modern Canadian social welfare policy. In 1940 the federal government had established an unemployment insurance scheme; in 1945 the universal Family Allowance program was introduced to guarantee a monthly income supplement to families based on the number of children. In the late 1940s, the provinces of Saskatchewan and British Columbia began to provide limited health insurance. Then, during the 1950s, the federal income security program for the elderly became universal and government support to chronically ill and disabled Canadians was extended.

Yet in spite of this increase in social welfare legislation at both the federal and provincial levels, the need for volunteers remained strong after the war. Voluntary organizations continued to proliferate and offered new types of services.

With the impetus of wartime appeals for charitable donations, the Community Chest (United Way) movement gained a solid foothold in urban areas in the decade following the Second World, reflecting the growing needs of social service agencies.

Volunteers also continued their role as social advocates, prodding governments to implement new initiatives that would improve the social welfare of Canadians.

Introduced to Canada in 1931 in Vancouver, the John Howard Societies blossomed after the Second World War as local organizations were founded in every region. These voluntary groups took on responsibility for the care of men upon their release from prison, from basic needs to counselling and vocational guidance. They also promoted crime prevention and lobbied for reforms to the criminal justice system.

During the 1940s and early 1950s, Elizabeth Fry Societies were established throughout British Columbia and Ontario to help girls and women in conflict with the law. Volunteers offered one-to-one emotional support and training in life skills and basic education to women in prison, on parole or probation, or back in the community.

These Societies also advocated changes to the criminal justice system, especially as it affected the lives of women.

In 1947, the Canadian Red Cross Society, supported by volunteers from the St. John Ambulance Brigade, started a system of blood donor clinics to supply blood and blood products free of charge to patients in all Canadian hospitals.

Uniquely Canadian in concept, this system continues to rely on volunteers to donate the blood and to run clinics in communities across the country.

From the late 1940s through the 1950s, important national voluntary organizations in health care were founded. These included: the Arthritis Society (1948), the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (1948), the Canadian Haemophilia Society (1953), the Canadian Diabetes Association (1953), the Canadian Heart Foundation (1957), and the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (1959).

The primary aims of these organizations were to support and encourage medical research in their respective areas, to promote public awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of the condition in question, and to provide emotional support and much needed services to afflicted individuals. As chapters of these organizations were established across the country, volunteers remained particularly active in patient services and in raising funds for research.

13

From the Sixties to the Eighties

Mobilizing for social change
and forming new kinds of voluntary organizations

THE ERA OF ECONOMIC PROSPERITY CONTINUED INTO THE 1960S. In keeping with changing priorities of society, government involvement in social services and health care was rapidly evolving.

During this period, Quebec launched a complete reorganization of health and social services with the aim of ensuring that all citizens had equal access to these services, regardless of social status, place of residence or religion. In this new model for health and welfare services, state-funded services were administered through local agencies governed by boards of volunteer directors chosen by the community. This new system replaced the traditional parish structures dealing with problems such as poverty and the poor health of workers.

The decade between 1960 and 1969 also witnessed more substantial action by the federal government in the areas of health care and social welfare.

The Canada Pension Plan, a social insurance scheme covering retirement, widowhood and permanent disability, was introduced in 1966 (the Quebec Pension Plan, begun at the same time, provided similar coverage for Quebec residents).

The Canada Assistance Plan extended federal cost-sharing for provincial programs in social welfare.

With the introduction of a federally supported medical insurance program in 1968, the developments in social welfare that had begun during the 1940s were essentially completed.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were dominated by citizens' movements that grew up around vital social issues of that time. There is no doubt that this change-oriented volunteering shaped our present socio- cultural environment.

Social advocates worked to gain public support for the causes of disadvantaged Canadians. Women's groups across the nation mobilized to win what they regarded as long overdue recognition of women's legal rights and a redefinition of the status of women in Canadian society. Volunteer groups lobbied for social justice for disabled persons to enable them to participate more actively in mainstream Canadian life and to have a voice in the services and policies affecting them.

Also at this time, Greenpeace began in Vancouver in 1970 as a small group of concerned citizens opposed to nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific.

The 1970s and 1980s were periods of dramatic growth for Native organizations in Canada. Many local groups were revitalized, and new volunteer organizations were formed in the territories and provinces and at the national level to address common concerns.

Advocates lobbied the government for improved human rights and better opportunities for Native people. Other volunteers worked to ensure the survival of Aboriginal languages and culture across the country. For example, to help preserve the Native identity and culture and to reach those in remote areas, Native organizations began to publish their own newspapers and to broadcast their own radio and television programs via satellite.

Friendship Centres were established in many cities to provide a place where people of Native ancestry could meet to socialize and to help each other cope with the alienation, racial discrimination and poverty that many were experiencing as part of urban life. Volunteers offer counselling services and provide information on training courses and finding employment; other volunteers organize cultural events and sports and recreation activities.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, volunteer activity was increasing throughout Canada. Volunteer bureaux and centres were established in many urban areas. (The first volunteer bureau was founded in Montreal in 1937). Their mandate was to support the voluntary sector and to strengthen the volunteer base of their community by recruiting, training and referring volunteers and by promoting the concept of volunteerism.

The 1980s witnessed a shrinking government role in providing social services because of severe financial pressures. At the same time, the demand for social services mushroomed.

Volunteers addressed these unmet needs from many directions, and, as specific concerns emerged as priorities, new forms of voluntary organizations developed -- food banks, soup kitchens, meals-on-wheels, emergency shelters, transition homes for abused women and their children, rape crisis centres, telephone hotlines, and drop-in centres in the downtown cores of major cities to help street kids.

An innovative movement known as Chantiers jeunesse began in Quebec in 1982. Volunteers between the ages of 17 and 25 devote over 30 hours a week to special projects that last from one to twelve months. Working together in a community, these young adults plan and carry out projects such as the development of a park or the restoration of a heritage structure. In addition to reinforcing the spirit of service to the community, these volunteer projects enrich the life experiences of young adults, increasing their self-confidence and teaching them new skills.

One of the most serious medical crises of the late 1980s and early 1990s has been presented by aids. New volunteer groups and networks formed in every region of the country to lobby for public education campaigns and increased funding for research, to organize support groups for people with aids, and to advocate on behalf of the human rights of those who have the hiv virus.

Since the availability of safe blood products and the threat of aids was of particular concern to those with haemophilia, the Canadian Haemophilia Society quickly turned its attention to this urgent issue. Supported by a strong core of volunteers, the Society has been promoting aids research, developing educational materials and counselling those of its own clientele who have contracted aids.