The History of Canadian Families

The First Canadian Families The first Canadians – First Nations peoples – were hunter- gatherers. They mainly lived in small nomadic bands, meaning that, instead of living in one place, they moved their settlements each time their main source of food – ie., animals – moved. These bands consisted of five to eighty people who were related by blood, or by conjugal relationships that we would today consider to be “common law” relationships. Within the bands, leadership was not inherited, but was acquired through personal qualities, such as strength and intelligence. Men and women played equal, albeit different, roles in their provisions for the band: men hunted and provided protection, while women gathered additional food sources, practiced healing techniques, and nurtured children.

Agricultural Families Once European settlers began to make their way to Canada, some First Nations peoples were already becoming agriculturists, and were living in more permanent settlements. Animals were domesticated (ie., raised specifically in one place), and crops were planted to both provide for people and their animals. While agriculture enabled communities to grow much more food, this also required a great deal of manual labour. As a result, people began to have larger families; more people were needed to work the land and take care of the animals.

Agricultural Families The first colonizers were mostly men and women from France and England who came to make their fortunes as fur traders for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Since European women were in short supply, they turned to First Nations women for what became known as marriage à la façon du pays, a temporary marriage arrangement “in the style of the country”. This is an early example of interracial marriage. Unfortunately, many of the European settlers would abandon their families when they returned home. As such, in 1821, the Hudson’s Bay Company introduced marriage contracts between their employees and First Nations women that declared that the husband had a binding responsibility to support his wife and children, even if he returned to Europe. Even with these contracts in place, as a greater number of female immigrants made their way to Canada, racist attitudes towards First Nations women developed. First Nations women who continued to form relationships with European men – especially when European women were available – were unfairly regarded as prostitutes or mistresses.

Agricultural Families During this time, families become much more organized. Monogamy – having one marital partner – became the preferred arrangement, and men established a patriarchy in which they were the decision makers of the family. Women’s activities became more focused on maintaining increasingly private households, while also caring for children, and handling all the domestic responsibilities of the home. Extended families formed when young adults continued to live in their parents’ households after they married due to the need for land for agriculture.

Pre-Industrial Families Due to an increase in population brought on by the growing size of families needed to maintain agricultural pursuits, land began to become scarce. Male family members without land moved with their wives into towns and cities, taking on jobs such as artisans, builders, merchants, soldiers, and politicians. Merchants and artisans worked in the family home where wives and children could help with work. In fact, the economic survival of the family depended on all family members working, including children.

Pre-Industrial Families By the age of seven or eight, children began to assist in economic activities, forgoing that period of innocence and play we are familiar with today. Boys would usually work outside the home on a farm, or become an apprentice in a trade or craft. Girls would usually work outside the home performing domestic labour, such as working as a servant for another family. Any money children made would be given to their parents.

Pre-Industrial Families Pre-industrial families were similar to agricultural families, but typically had fewer children. As well, men became more dominant in public life, and women were expected to confine their activities to the family household. Because married women and their children were considered the property of their husbands, men could discipline them harshly. Family life could often be violent for women and children, who had little legal protection.

Urban Industrial Families: 19th Century During the 19th century, families in Canada became urban. More than one-third of Canadians lived in towns and cities, and more and more Canadians migrated to the cities where work could be found. The family system proved to be a flexible social institution, and a new form called the industrial nuclear family emerged. In this family, the notion of motherhood as the “sacred” and primary role of women became the ideal. Women were nurturers who worked at home and were supported financially by their husbands. Men were money-earners who worked to provide for their wives and children.

Urban Industrial Families: 19th Century The role of children changed, too. There was less need for children to work in factories, and education became compulsory for children under the age of 14 years. Child-labour laws were eventually passed in the mid-1880s, and an idealized notion of childhood as an “age of innocence” was born. The home was no longer the centre of economic activity, but a place of love and emotional contentment.

Urban Industrial Families: 20th Century In the early 20th century, families began to be smaller. First, Canadians delayed marriage until they could afford their own home. Second, children had to be supported until they finished school, so couples could not always afford large families. The common image of the family was one in which the husband was the exclusive provider, the head of the household, and the link between the family and society. The wife was the homemaker for whom new products were manufactured to assist her in creating a comfortable home for her husband and children. Children were expected to play under the supervision of their mothers and to attend school.

The Contemporary Canadian Family The past 50 years in Canada have seen significant changes in the family structure. The ideal family life of the nuclear family in the first half of the 20th century was dependent on women accepting a role as wife and mother, and on a husband’s ability to earn enough money to support his family. After the affluence of the 1950s ended, Canadian families found it increasingly difficult to pay for things they felt were necessary on only one wage. By the 1960s and 1970s, women began to work outside the home to supplement family incomes. In 2005, 81% of all women were employed, including 74% of mothers with young children.

The Contemporary Canadian Family The status of women in Canada began to change when access to their own income made women less dependent on their spouses. A growing women’s movement put pressure on the government to change the laws to reflect their new status. In 1968, the Divorce Act established more lenient guidelines for divorce. The use and distribution of birth control became legal in 1965, and sex before marriage became a more acceptable practice. The birth rate declined, and the family changed dramatically.

The Contemporary Canadian Family Family formation during the last 40 years in Canada also reflects the broader multicultural influences that result from a shift in immigration. Earlier immigrants came from European countries, but now many immigrants come to Canada from all around the world. Immigrant families have brought diverse family forms and practices to Canada, introducing their neighbours to new and different roles and priorities for families.

The Contemporary Canadian Family In Canada, the nuclear family continues to be the dominant family form, but many new families have developed. Blended families, single-parent families, and extended families are common. After the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2005, families with same-sex partners have become more prevalent and accepted. Childless couples are also numerous, as fewer couples choose to have children, or wait significantly longer to consider having children. Significant changes have occurred in the organization of the Canadian family, and it is no longer essential for a man to marry a woman, let alone divide the roles needed to fulfill the functions of a family based on gender.