Beacons of light are being lit across Canada and the UK on 28 September to commemorate 150 years since the first British Home Children arrived in Canada.
It is estimated that more than 100,000 poor children were ripped apart from their families in the UK when they were emigrated to Canada between 1869 and 1939 (1948 to British Columbia) by over 50 organisations. Many of the children were used as indentured farm workers and domestic servants and suffered lifelong trauma. Believed to be orphans by Canadians, only two per cent actually were.
Canada’s British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association (BHCARA) has asked communities in both countries to take part in the Beacons of Lights for British Home Children and Child Migrants Tribute by illuminating memorials, monuments, buildings and other locations with its colours on 28 September, British Home Child Day. More than 70 landmarks are participating, from Niagara Falls to Toronto’s CN Tower, and there will be a Northern Lights Display in Vancouver and St Andrew’s House, Scottish Government HQ, Edinburgh.