Homes for “Unwed Mothers” 1945 – 1985

Visit 450 Pape Ave at Harris History

“A report by the Canadian Welfare Council of 1957 estimated there were about thirty such homes across Canada. By the end of the 1960’s there were roughly fifty homes” – “Gone to an Aunts”, Anne Petrie

During the 1800’s compassionate Victorian ladies were disturbed by the plight of unmarried mothers who had no resources and strived to create “Maternity Homes” which were homes to give those mothers a safe place to take their pregnancy to term, and to learn to care for and nurture their babies. At no time were mothers and babies separated, and in fact, in Minnesota, there was actually a Breast Feeding Statute that stated a mother had to breast feed for at least three months (Minnesota Three Month Nursing Regulation), which was devised to keep mother and child together and to promote bonding. The mother in this scenario however, was a “Fallen Women” and her baby labelled “illegitimate” or a “bastard”. The stigma attached to these labels were heavy indeed.

After World War II with the onset of the profession of Social Work, society decided that unmarried mothers could be rehabilitated or “made marriageable” again after being pregnant and giving birth. These same Maternity Homes and policies that were devised to help mothers and children stay together now became the means to separate them as adoption became the vehicle by which a mother could “be redeemed”.

Many of these homes were run by religious organizations in conjunction with the province. The Salvation Army and the Misericordia Sisters were the most prominent, but each denomination seemed to have their own facility for the “unwed mother” as the list below will show.

In her article “Not By Choice” Karen Wilson Buterbaugh shows how thought reform was alive and well in the Maternity Homes of that period.

Keep a Person Unaware

Girls were not instructed about pregnancy, labor, delivery; were left totally alone during labor and delivery; were not allowed contact with new mothers; not provided information about welfare and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), child support and other government programs.

Control their environment and time.

Girls forced to live in maternity “homes”; made to use fictitious names or first names and last initials only; allowed no contact with friends and boy-friends by letter, phone or in person; kept away from everything familiar; made to follow strict daily routines.

Create a sense of powerlessness.

Took away our money (pay phones only); no personal (familiar) clothing; not allowed freedom to come and go; removed everything that would remind us of who we were.

Rewards and punishments to inhibit behaviour reflecting former identity.

Called “neurotic” if we said no to “relinquishing”; told we were “out of touch with reality” and “selfish” if we kept our babies; told our pregnancy was “proof of unfitness.”

Rewards and punishments promoting group’s beliefs or behaviors.

Allowed no television, phone, visitation or radio privileges if not following rules; scolding and de-meaning lectures for disagreeing; harangued when speaking up against “counseling” (reasons why we should “choose” adoption); praised for agreeing to surrender.

Use logic and authority which permits no feedback.

Director, caseworkers and housemothers enforced strict rules and rigid schedule: wakeup, bedtime, meals, chores and approved visitation; censored mail (both incoming and outgoing); no legal counsel; no support system.

It seems clear that all of the thought reform conditions were present during the many months we were forced to hide away in maternity homes.

Rickie Solinger, in Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade (1992), gives us a sense of the maternity home environment:

The world of maternity homes in postwar America was a gothic attic obscured from the community by the closed curtains of gentility and high spiked fences. The girls and women sent inside were dreamwalkers serving time, pregnant dreamwalkers taking the cure. Part criminal, part patient, the unwed mother arrived on the doorstep with her valise and, moving inside, found herself enclosed within an idea…

Maternity homes… served to further stigmatize pregnant young women by removing them from their families, friends and neighbors… these “homes” could create an austere and frightening atmosphere for the mother, whose freedom of movement was strictly curtailed by these instant chaperones and guardians. Typically, mothers were expected to help out in these homes with chores such as cleaning, dishwashing, and so on… while the mother’s physical needs were met, seldom were her emotional needs addressed…

Most of these homes are now closed and thankfully so, but the history of the”Home for Unwed Mother” is not over as the mothers that resided there in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s are now giving voice to their stories and experiences during their incarceration there, and their stories must be preserved for their children.

Origins has tried to compile an accurate list of the homes, however we need more information. If you have any further information that will help us
with the accuracy of this list please contact us at admin@originscanada.org

Please note that the majority of these homes are now closed.
The address shown reflects the last known address of the home.

THE SALVATION ARMY

NEWFOUNDLAND

The Anchorage
26 Cook St.
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Glenbrook Lodge
St. John’s Newfoundland

NOVA SCOTIA

Grace Haven/called Parkdale House after 1975
47 Byng Avenue
Sydney, Nova Scotia

Bethany Home
6080 Young St. also 980 Tower Road
Halifax, Nova Scotia

NEW BRUNSWICK

Evangeline Home “Rathbone House”
260 Princess St.
Saint John, N.B.

QUEBEC

Grace Haven
6690 Monkland Ave.
Montreal, PQ

ONTARIO

Grace Haven
138 Herkimer St.
Hamilton,Ontario

Bethany Home
450 Pape Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
(Births from this home took place at Grace Hospital, Toronto)

Bethany Home
1140 Wellington St.
Ottawa, Ontario

Bethesda Home & Hospital
54 Riverview Avenue
London, Ontario

Faith Haven
Windsor, Ontario

Grace Haven/Florence Booth Home
497 N. Lillie St.
Thunder Bay, Ontario

Florence Booth Home
Fort William, Ontario

MANITOBA

Grace Haven
Box 2907
Steinbach, Manitoba

Bethany Home/ Lindenview Place
250 Booth Drive
Winnipeg, Manitoba

SASKATCHEWAN

Grace Haven
2929 26th Avenue
Regina, Saskatchewan
alternate address also found: 2301-15th Avenue, Regina

Bethany Home & Hospital
802 Queen St.
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

ALBERTA

Hill Haven/Parkwood House
1340 8th Avenue N.W.
Calgary, Alberta

VANCOUVER

Maywood Home
7250 Oak St.
Vancouver, B.C.
Note: The Salvation Army ran a number of Homes and Hospitals across Canada
Please note that any “Grace” or “Booth” Hospital would also be Salvation Army

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Sisters of Misericordia (10)??
We have tried to compile a list of homes.
Please contact us if you know of any more places and names of homes.

NOVA SCOTIA

Catholic Home of the Guardian Angel
Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Little Flower Institute
Little Bras d’Or

QUEBEC

Villa St.-Michel
Montreal, PQ

Misericorde
St. Hubert & Rene Levesque Blvd
Montreal, PQ

Six others in Quebec ???

ONTARIO

Rosalie Hall
3020 Lawrence Avenue East
Scarborough, Ontario

Sundale/Mercy Shelter
Chatham, Ontario

St. Mary’s Home
Ottawa, Ontario

MANITOBA

St. Hubert Home for Unwed Mothers
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Villa Rosa
Winnipeg, Manitoba

ALBERTA

The Providence Creche
Calgary, Alberta

The Pineview Home for Unmarried Mothers
Edmonton, Alberta

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Our Lady of Mercy
Vancouver, B.C.

ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA

ONTARIO

Humewood House
40 Humewood Drive
Toronto, Ontario

St Monica’s Home
30 Sycamore Place
Kitchener, Ontario

QUEBEC

Elizabeth House (Co-sponsored with Presbyterian & United Church)
2131 Marlowe Avenue
Montreal, PQ

MANITOBA

Church Home For Girls (Co-sponsored with United Church)
2594 Henderson Hwy
Winnipeg, Manitoba

ALBERTA

St. John’s
Edmonton, Alberta

B.C.

Marion Hillard House
Serle Road, RR#1
Kamloops, B.C.

UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA

Victor (Massey) Home for Girls
1102 Broadview Avenue
Toronto, Ontario

Elizabeth House, Montreal, (cosponsored with Anglican Church as above)

Church Home for Girls , Winnipeg (cosponsored with Anglican Church as above)

Burnaby Home for Girls
7401 Sussex Avenue
South Burnaby, British Columbia
Cedarvale Home for Unwed Mothers (Previously Ontario Home for Girls)
Georgetown, Ontario

EVANGELICAL

Bethel Home (sponsored by the Pentecostal Benevolent Assoc of Ontario)
115 Bonis Avenue
Agincourt, Ontario

Friendly Home
5867 Cote St. Antoine Rd.
Montreal, PQ

Beulah Home
134th and 101st
Edmonton, Alberta

Jewels for Jesus Mission
2110 Argentia Road
Mississauga, Ontario

PRESBYTERIAN

Oakville, Ontario (name of home not known to us)

Elizabeth House (co-sponsored with Anglican Church as above)

ECUMENICAL

Northern Ecumenical Maternity Homes
P.O. Box 955
Sudbury, Ontario

PRIVATE

Molly Breens Boarding House
18 Wood St.
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Ideal Maternity Home
East Chester, Nova Scotia