Social Origins of the Welfare State, The: Quebec Families, Compulsory Education, and Family Allowances, 1940-1955 (Studies in Childhood and Family in Canada)

301 Pages·2006·6.36 MB·English

by  Dominique Marshall

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The Social Origins of the Welfare State
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Studies in Childhood and Family in Canada
Studies in Childhood and Family in Canadais a multidisciplinary
series devoted to new perspectives on these subjects as they evolve. The
series features studies that focus on the intersections of age, class, race,
gender, and region as they contribute to a Canadian understanding of
childhood and family, both historically and currently.
Series Editor
Cynthia Comacchio
Department of History
Wilfrid Laurier University
Manuscripts to be sent to
Brian Henderson, Director
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
75 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3C5
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The Social Origins of the Welfare State
Québec Families, Compulsory Education,
and Family Allowances, 1940–1955
Dominique Marshall
Translated by Nicola Doone Danby
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We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing
program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through
the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Marshall, Dominique, 1961–
The social origins of the welfare state : Québec families, compulsory education,
and family allowances, 1940–1955/Dominique Marshall; translated by
Nicola Doone Danby.
(Studies in childhood and family in Canada)
Translation of : Aux origines sociales de l’État-providence.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-88920-452-2
ISBN-10: 0-88920-452-7
1. Welfare state. 2. Family policy—Québec (Province). 3.Family—Québec
(Province)—History—20th century. 4.Education, Compulsory—Québec (Province)—
History—20th century. 5.Family allowances—Québec (Province)—History—20th
century. 6.Child labor—Québec (Province)—History—20th century. I. Danby, Nicola
Doone, 1974– . II.Title. III.Series.
HV109.Q84M3713 2006 361.6'50971409044 C2006-903991-7
©2006 Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
www.wlupress.wlu.ca
Cover design by P.J. Woodland. Front cover photograph—originally from the National
Film Board—from the National Archives of Canada, Official Publications, National
Library of Canada negative NL15302, Department of National Health and Welfare,
Allocations familiales: Charte de l’enfance(Ottawa: King’s Printer, 1945–1946), pub-
lished in La Presse, 25 February 1944. Reproduced with the permission of La Presseand
the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Author photo by
Graphics, Oxford-Brookes University. Text design by Catharine Bonas-Taylor.
This book is printed on Ancient Forest Friendly paper (100% post-consumer recycled).
Printed in Canada
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material
used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and
omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or trans-
mitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher
or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For
an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-
5777.
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To my husband, Andrew, with all my gratitude
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Contents
Introduction ix
Abbreviations xix
Chapter 1
The Drafting of Laws: Social Movements and Legislation 1
Adélard Godbout and the Provincial Compulsory School
Attendance Act of 1943: Liberal Reformism, “Managerial
Reformism,” and Clerical Agriculturalism 2
The Failure of the 1943 Provincial Family Allowances Act 14
Mackenzie King and the 1945 Federal Family Allowances Act 19
Maurice Duplessis, Provincial Autonomy, and Social Policies 27
The Industrial and Commercial Establishments Act 34
Chapter 2
Implementing the New Laws: Institutionalization
of New Rights 39
The Consolidation of the Department of Public Instruction:
Statistics and Centralization 39
School Boards, the Department of Labour Inspectors, and
the Montréal Juvenile Court 49
The Institution of Family Allowances and the Federal
Government’s “Administrative Revenge” 61
Chapter 3
The Significance of Children’s Universal Rights: Official
Views on Poverty and the Family 71
Poverty and Collective Responsibility 71
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viii Contents
The Question of Children’s Autonomy 78
The Autonomy of Poor Parents 82
Chapter 4
The Evolution of the Status of Children: Between the
New Official Norms, Market Changes, and the
Cultural World of Parents 95
The Progress of Schooling 96
The Decline of Juvenile Labour in Industry and Commerce 99
The Decline of Labour for Farmers’ Sons 104
The Change in Parents’ Responsibilities and Prerogatives 107
The Increase in Children’s Autonomy 113
Chapter 5
Forgotten by Education and Welfare: The New Faces
of Poverty and Juvenile Labour 119
The Failure of Government Advice and the Discarding of
Abnormal Families 119
The Survival of Juvenile Labour: Market Insufficiencies
and the Persistent Needs of Families 125
The Development and Tolerance of Exceptions to Universal
Rights: Sons of Self-Sufficient Farmers, Girls of Disadvantaged
Homes, and Ghettos of Paid Juvenile Labour 131
The Rigidity of the School Structure, Children’s Persistent
Needs, and the New Conceptions of Abnormal Childhood 155
Chapter 6
The Transformation of the Political Culture of Families 161
The Maintenance and Dissipation of the War Consensus 161
Traditional Means of Defending Parents’ Rights and the
New Struggles for Democracy 173
School Boards and the Struggle against the Centralizing
of Social Institutions 181
Social Policy and the Constitution 184
The Quiet Revolution, State Formation, Nationalism,
and Family Values 189
Notes 195
Index 269
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Introduction
During the Second World War, the federal and provincial governments
made generous promises to Québec’s poor children. In 1943, the prime
minister of Québec, Liberal Adélard Godbout, recognized their right to a
minimum level of education. Four years of power had allowed him to put
an end to the half-century of quarrelling between the province’s Catholic
clergy and Liberal reformists over the State’s role in education. Radio and
newspapers informed parents, children, teachers, and school commission-
ers that, beginning in September 1943, school would be both free and com-
pulsory until the age of fourteen or until grade seven, inclusively. This pol-
icy earned Godbout and his ministers the reputation of having been the
precursors to the Quiet Revolution. With the aim of modernizing the
province’s economy, they effectively strove to extend the social grip over
public institutions, a task that would be taken up by the “équipe du ton-
nerre” of another Liberal, Jean Lesage, in 1960.
In 1944, a year after Québec’s adoption of this law on compulsory edu-
cation, Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King announced
that all children aged sixteen and under would have the right to a “mini-
mum of welfare” and, to this end, monthly family allowances in the amount
of four to nine dollars would be disbursed to all mothers. The necessities
of war production and the approaching general elections led Mackenzie
King to establish the country’s first universal social program, one of the
foundations of the Canadian Welfare State.
The two laws dictated that parents were responsible for their chil-
dren’s physical security at least until the age of fourteen, permitting these
youths to acquire a minimum of intellectual development. It became ille-
gal for children to work instead of attend school, and the State commit-
Notes to introduction start on p. 195.
ix