The development of state relief in the province of Manitoba

Abstract

It is the object of this paper and the hope of the writer, that, by tracing the development of relief through its various 'charity' stages, by examining the organization, aims and policies of the various relief channels as found today, and by examining the records of those organizations, it may be possible to apply the principles of relief as found in the history of the English Poor Law, to our Manitoba system, and to estimate whether or not the policies followed have stable economic foundation. The problem of relief is so far-reaching in its causes and its consequences, that it has been necessary to confine consideration to very definite channels. For this reason we have omitted Soldiers' Pensions as being rewards of service, the Deserted Wives' Fund and the Red Cross Society as having arisen out of the war, Workmen's Compensation as being in lieu of wages, and Rural Credits and Settlement Schemes as investments on the part of the Government, in the land. To avoid confusion we have used the terms 'indigent', 'necessitous' amd 'destitute', when referring to those unable or unwilling to provide the necessities of life for themselves, and their families, and have refrained from using the terms 'pauper', 'poor' and 'poverty' which terms are generally used without specific meaning.