1.1 A brief history of Social Service Work.
Jennifer Abrams
It is important that this segment begins with a clear declaration. The history of Social Welfare in Canada is directly tied to the history of colonization. The Sociological Imagination will be essential for future Social Service Workers to understand how this history of “helping” was oppressive to the Indigenous Nations that lived here centuries prior to Colonization.
What is lacking in the literature of the history of Social Welfare in Canada is discussion of what existed before colonization. Indigenous communities on Turtle Island (North America) were vast and diverse in culture, history, spirituality, and language. That said, a common feature was a strong sense of community and connection to the natural environment. This author can make no claims to this ancient knowledge but the journey of acknowledging that there were helping mechanisms that pre-existed western values is important. The process of decolonizing Social Welfare is a process of learning for Settler Colonists (anyone whose ancestry is not Indigenous) and re-connection to culture for Indigenous Social Welfare professionals. Michael Yellow Bird (Clarke, 2021) writes “more often than not, we are estranged from one another, from our environment, from the sustainable practices and wisdom of our ancestors that we have not fully brought into social work practice, research, policy and education” (p.27). How can we use or sociological imagination to re-vison what is possible for the profession in the context of decolonization and social change?
Prior to the 1800s, there was limited formal social welfare in Canada. Religious groups, charity organizations, families and communities were the primary sources of “help” for European colonists and Indigenous communities. Through the 19th century, social welfare policy was informed but English Policy and the Poor Law of 1601, revised in 1832 (Hick & Stokes, 2017). This policy clearly established the notions of the deserving and undeserving poor. The deserving poor were those considered to be poor through circumstance, not moral flaw. The underserving poor were judged to be those with low morals and lack of drive or work ethic. Supports were more readily provided to the deserving poor. Underserving poor were denied services or placed in workhouses.
Until the 20th Century (the 1900’s) Social Welfare was run by churches and private philanthropic agencies. They were run by volunteers and lacked in regulation. With the progression of scientific processes in all areas, Charity Organization Societies (COS) emerged in England and North America. It was the goal of the COS’s to organize the vast charity groups towards better outcomes. These societies began practicing what is now recognizable as modern casework (Hick & Stokes, 2017). Settlement Houses emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century. These houses saw middle and upper-class young adults settle in impoverished communities to assist. The