3 History of Social Welfare Policy in Canada

Why Study the History of Social Policy?

Our current set of social welfare provisions in Canada developed over a long span of time.  Establishing “periods” in any area of history can be a tricky undertaking.  But it is plausible to divide the broad sweep of Canadian social welfare into these distinct periods:

• the varied, complex and evolving ways in which the Indigenous peoples who have inhabited Turtle Island since time immemorial have collectively cared and provided for one another
• early colonial welfare arrangements among European settlers, including the French of New France from the early 1600s onwards, and the English from the late 1700s onwards
• the ways in which “welfare” was understood in the context of new Canadian nation state that was created by Confederation in 1867, and how this understanding evolved up until the First World War (1914-1918)
• the first halting steps towards better welfare programs in the 1920s, followed by a search for new models of social welfare to respond to economic calamity of the Great Depression of the 1930s
• the development of a blueprint for the modern Canadian welfare state during the years of the Second World War (1939-1945)
• the construction of the Canadian welfare state in the decades after World War Two, which was slow during the late 1940s and 1950s, but which gathered strong momentum during the 1960s
• the neo-liberal attack on and undermining of the Canadian welfare state that began in the late 1970s and continued until the end of the century
• resistance to this neo-liberal restructuring of Canadian welfare, and efforts to reverse the cuts and (in some quarters) to come up with a new vision of social welfare for the 21st century

It is essential to understand the historical roots of social welfare in Canada.  The emergence of welfare in Canada was not just a quest for humanitarian improvement and social progress – it was also a process that upheld colonialism, white privilege, male supremacy, and the subjugation of workers in order to enrich economic elites.  Such an understanding of the complex and contradictory historical trajectory of social welfare in Canada will help us to better grasp contemporary debates and challenges in the social policy field.  Historical insights will enable us to make informed choices about the future of social programs, and thereby help to ensure a just and sustainable Canadian society for the generations that come after us.

****************************************

Highlights in the History of Canadian Social Welfare Policy

Indigenous teachings and practices for collective well-being both pre- and post-contact

19th century (colonial and post-Confederation welfare provision)

20th century:

• Pre-World War One (e.g. Child Savers, settlement houses, Workers’ Compensation)
• 1920s (e.g. Mothers’ Allowance, early old age pension provisions)
• The challenges and aftermath of the Great Depression (e.g. work camps, Bennett’s New Deal, unemployment insurance, Rowell-Sirois Commission)
• Marsh Report (1943)
• Gradual construction of postwar Keynesian welfare state in the 40s / 50s / 60s / early 70s
• mid-70s onwards: advent of neo-liberalism and austerity

Facing the future in the 21st century

• Resistance to neo-liberalism and austerity
• The growing gap, precarious employment, the housing crisis
• Tackling colonialism and Indigenizing social policy (TRC and MMIWG reports)
• Tackling anti-black racism
• Tackling discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation and sexual identity.
• Continuing challenges of gendered care work
• New models for economic security (e.g. universal basic income, decommodification of housing)
• Social policy as a tool to address social injustice and the environmental emergency

***************************************

The Social Policy Legacy of Brian Mulroney (1939 – 2024)

Bashevkin, S. (1996). Losing common ground: Feminists, conservatives and public policy in Canada during the Mulroney years. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 29(2), 211-242.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/3232289

Dumas, Alexandre. (2024, March). Brian Mulroney and the stealth privatization of the state. Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Evans, P. (1994), Eroding Canadian Social Welfare: The Mulroney Legacy, 1984–1993. Social Policy & Administration, 28: 107-119. https://doi-org.uml.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/j.1467-9515.1994.tb00413.x

****************************************

RESOURCES

Oxford Bibliographies: Social Work

Entry on “History of Canadian Social Welfare” by John Graham & Micheal L. Shier

Note: the link above is not the full entry, but only as sample.  The full entry is available as a digital resource through the Univ. of Manitoba Libraries.  You can access it by logging in with your student ID.  Make sure to search this exact title: Oxford Bibliographies: Social Work

Entry on the “Welfare State” in the Canadian Encyclopedia

Allan Moscovitch, Professor Emeritus, Carleton Univ. School of Social Work (2015)

This general entry has sections covering what Moscovitch describes as the four phases in the development of the Canadian Welfare State.

Social Work and Social Welfare in Canada

Dr. Jeanette Elizabeth Schmid – Publication date 2019-06-06

See Section 1 – Historical Perspectives

History of Health and Social Transfers

Department of Finance Canada

Virtual Museum of New France: Daily Life 

Charity and public welfare in history: A look at Ontario, 1830–1950

By Paula Maurutto, 2004

The Philanthropist Journal

Social Security Timeline in Canada (to 1966) – Government of Manitoba

A Brief History of Pensions in Canada (NUPGE, October 2024)

The History of Canada’s Public Pensions: Timeline (Canadian Museum of History)

The History of Public Medicare – by Ontario Council of Hospital Unions & Canadian Union of Public Employees

Making Medicare: New Perspectives on the History of Medicare in Canada – by Greg Marchildon (ed.), 2013. (E-book available from UM Libraries)

Residential School Timeline – National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Home Children Canada

The Golden Bridge: Child Migration from Scotland to Canada 1869–1939

Waterloo County (ON) House of Refuge and Industry

Waterloo County House of Refuge and Industry: Timeline

Bessie Touzel: Early Progressive Voice in Social Work and Social Welfare in Canada

See entry on “Bessie Touzel (1904 – 97)” in The Encyclopedia of Canadian Social Work, Ed. F. Turner (2005).

Available in digital format from UM Libraries.

Bertha Capan Reynolds: Early Progressive Voice in Social Work and Social Welfare in the United States:  LINK

Jane Addams Digital Edition (U.S.)

Voices of Discontent: Rise of Rural Power (CBC History)

Remember Every Name project

“The History” section from “Remember Every Name” website 

This is the story of the Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, Ontario.  It was an institution operated by the province of Ontario that housed persons with developmental disabilities.  It opened in 1876 as the “Asylum for Idiots and Imbeciles” and grew into the largest institution of its kind in Canada.  It was finally closed in 2009 after decades of criticism by advocates and legal action by former residents for its dehumanization and ill treatment of the people who lived there.

CANADIAN LABOUR HISTORY

The Canadian labour movement has been throughout the course of its history, going back to the late nineteenth century, a primary champion of the economic well-being of working people.  Unions struggle in the workplace and with employers for good pay, decent working conditions, and work-related benefits such as sick days and medical and dental benefits.  Organized labour has also been in the forefront of advocacy for universal social programs that benefit everyone in Canada such as unemployment insurance, public pensions, and universal health care.

So the history of social welfare in Canada is linked in important ways with the history of the labour movement in Canada.  The links below can provide important information on the connections between worker activism and the struggles for income security, public health care, decent housing, and other components of an equitable and fair Canadian society.

Labour Relations in Canada  – by Melanie Reed, 2025

• Ch. 3 – Labour History in Canada: The Early Years

• Ch. 4 – Labour History: A Growing Movement

Working-Class History (The Canadian Encyclopedia)

Timeline of labour issues and events in Canada (Wikipedia)

WORKERS’ ARTS and HERITAGE CENTRE (Hamilton ON)