Mouvance des frontières ethniques et religieuses dans les organismes d’assistance anglophones de la région de Québec : Analyse historique du Saint Brigid’s Home et du Ladies’ Protestant Home

An examination of the emergence, administration and evolution of two Anglophone Quebec City social aid societies, one Catholic (Saint Brigid's Home) and the other Protestant (Ladies' Protestant Home), between 1850 and 1970. The author points out that in the early decades of the nineteenth century, social aid societies in Quebec City did not differentiate between the language, ethnicity or religious affiliations of the poor they served. After 1840, collaboration between social aid societies diminished and the societies began to focus on their specific ethno-religious community. After 1950, with the professionalization of social workers, the closure of orphanages, the decline of the Anglophone population, and the "erosion of ethno-religious frontiers", English language social aid organizations in Quebec City began to consolidate their services. Founded in 1859, the Ladies' Protestant Home was originally a temporary shelter for poor and destitute Protestant immigrant women in Quebec City. In the 1950s, its mandate was expanded to include seniors and non-Protestants, Francophones and men. The Home closed in 1989 and its services amalgamated with St. Brigid's Home. St. Brigid's Home was founded in 1856 by Reverend Father Bernard McGauran as a shelter for Irish Catholic immigrants, widows and orphans. By the 1950s, a fifth of the residents were Francophones and, fifty years later, half the residents were Francophone. In 2007, St. Brigid's amalgamated with the Jeffery Hale and the Holland Center (today known as Jeffery Hale–Saint Brigid's Home).

Cahiers de l'ÉDIQ

Vol. 3

no. 1

33-56

2016

fr