Select a topic (see topic list below) and write a fully-referenced term paper, which clearly describes the specific policy you have chosen and the highlights of its historical development in Canada. I do not want a paper that describes a current program; this is a paper that should be premised on historic ideology and development.
Point 1: Poor Law Ideological Principles
Your paper must incorporate a discussion of how one or more ideological principles behind the British Poor Laws have informed the policy, event or legislation of your choice and describe what and how the policy or legislation grew out of and / or reformed specific British Poor Laws.
Point 2: Relevant factors or dynamics
Include in your paper a discussion of a minimum of three relevant factors or dynamics involved. Some which you might wish to consider are as follows:
economic factors: modes of production, economic changes and economic trends;
social factors: class relations, development of new ideologies, changes in family structure and the role of reproduction in society;
political factors: changes in the role of different levels of government, political parties, interest group influences and class struggles;
demographic factors: age and population changes, immigration patterns and labour force participation;
religious factors: shifts in theological development with respect to social issues, minority religious group influence, etc.;
cataclysmic factors: war, economic depressions, drought, etc.;
technological factors: changes in techniques of production, transportation, communication, etc.
Point 3: Critical Assessment of the Impact of Policy or Event
Critically assess the impact of the policy or event for social welfare in Canada or the impact it had on the lives of people (i.e., working Canadians, the elderly, women, immigrants, Indigenous groups, etc.). In doing so, consider the extent to which events or the policy change provided meaningful benefits and assistance to groups, the extent to which benefits were unnecessarily limited or traded off, and the extent to which it introduced methods of social control affecting particular populations.
Topic List – Choose either from List A or List B:
A. Social Welfare Policies, Programs, Events
The Marsh Report
Royal Commission on the Relations between Labour and Capital, 1887
Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations, 1937-1940 (Rowell-Sirois Report)
The Origins of Mothers’ Allowance
The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919
British Home Children
B. Legislation:
The Indian Act, 1867
Old Age Security Act of 1927
Unemployment Insurance Act of 1940
Medicare in Saskatchewan, 1961
The Family Allowance Act of 1945
Juvenile Delinquents Act of 1908
