Reposted from December, 2020, an interview between the World Refugee & Migration Council and Ratna Omidvar, Canadian Senator and WRMC Council member. Omidvar “discusses how the international community can better respond to the needs of refugee women and girls, empower them as agents of change, and confront systemic issues of discrimination”.
Visitors to immigrantchildren.ca will be familiar with my view on the British Home Children “program”: I believe that it was state-sanctioned child trafficking. Still, it is worth noting that this September, Canada will mark 150 years since the first children “arrived”.
Canada’s Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 has materials about this child emigration scheme, including this personal story.
Also see:
British Home Children in Canada
British Home Children Registry
Library and Archives Canada
The Canadian Encyclopedia
This SHRCC funded project, Rights for Children and Youth Partnership: Strengthening Collaboration in the Americas (RCYP) is based out of Ryerson University. The project aims to “increase knowledge and factors that either support or hinder the protection of children and youth rights in the Caribbean, Central American and disproportionately represented populations in Canada” including in Canada, The Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Trinidad and Tobago.
The project is seeking participation from Caribbean families and children with experience in the child welfare system in Canada. Your participation will support the RCYPs mission to “increase knowledge of factors which support or hinder the protection of children and youth rights in the Caribbean, Central America, as well as the diaspora populations in Canada, which are disproportionately represented in the Canadian child welfare system”.
