Wednesday, September 23, 2026 · 1:30 pm George-McLeish Community Centre (GMCC) Speaker: Sheila Dodd Topic: The history of the British Home Children who were sent to live and work in Quebec from 1869 to the 1940s, specifically in the Ste-Anne’s area at the Braerob farm. British Home Children were over 100,000 impoverished or orphaned children sent from the UK to Canada between 1869 and the 1940s by charities to provide farm and domestic labour, offering them a supposed fresh start but often leading to abuse, exploitation and forced servitude — a significant but often overlooked part of Canadian history with lasting impact on descendants today. September 28 is recognized as British Home Child Day. Sheila is excited to bring awareness about the British Home Children and the significant role Braerob Farm in Ste-Anne’s, the Parish Church at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and Father J.B. Aubrey played in the local child migration scheme. Sheila will also profile some of the children who were indentured in our region and share some of their stories with permission from their families.
Further reading: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/immigrant-children
Further reading: https://montrealgazette.com/news/world/historic-farmhouse-gets-a-name