15h 55min, jan 1, 1891 y - John Joseph Kelso and the Children's Charter

Description:

During the industrial age, children were being put into harsh conditions and doing dangerous jobs. In 1887, John Joseph Kelso was a reporter for a Toronto newspaper wrote a series of articles about neglected children in the city. He believed that children who were on the streets should be instead of school would turn to crime. Kelso helped fund the Toronto's Children's Aid Society (TCAS) in 1891 with the original motto of "It is less expensive to save children than to punish criminals." Due to the efforts of Kelso and the TCAS, the Ontario Government passed a new children's protection act in 1893, known as the Children's Charter. It protects children from abandonment, mistreatment, and neglect. The Ontario provincial government appointed Kelso to the new position of superintendent of neglected and dependent children. During his time as in this position, he established 56 children's aid societies and communities throughout Ontario and helped other provincial governments in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia set up child protection laws and programs.