A Registered Canadian Charity · CRA Registration # 792523003RR0001
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A Registered Canadian Charity

Representing Home Children and their descendants across the world.

The leader in continuing the mission to bring the true stories of the British Home Children to light, maintain their memory, and reunite the families separated by the child migrant schemes.

20 July 1907: Dr. Barnardo Immigration Party at Barkingside, England. Mrs. Barnardo is the lady at the front.
Update: our research site, formerly “British Home Children in Canada”, has moved and is now the Home Children Canada Research Site.
100,000+children sent to Canada, 1869–1948
84,000+children in the BHC Registry
7,400+Home Children in the War Service Index
76children named on the Park Lawn Monument
Our Story

A significant part of Canadian and British history, still vastly unknown.

Between 1869 and 1948 over 100,000 children of all ages were brought to Canadian shores from the UK. They were not brought for love or protection – they were sent to work on Canadian farms and in Canadian households.

Home Children Canada, established in 2012, is dedicated to elevating the profile of the Home Children and preserving their memory. We catalogue their stories, build the Home Child Registry and its indexes, and have published newsletters since 2013.

We advocate for recognition of the Home Children’s service in the World Wars, and we located an unmarked mass grave of 76 children at Park Lawn Cemetery in Etobicoke, Ontario. After four years of research to identify them, a monument bearing their names was erected.

Read the full history

Home Children Canada speakers
Home Children Canada speakers share the stories of the Home Children.
What we do

Four ways we honour the Home Children

Record

The BHC Registry and a growing set of searchable indexes, so families can find their Home Child ancestors.

Reunite

Helping descendants trace and reconnect with the families separated by the child migrant schemes.

Remember

Memorials, monuments, burial research, the Memory Quilts and National British Home Child Day on September 28.

Raise awareness

Speakers, newsletters, media work and advocacy for national recognition and an apology.

Explore

Registry, Indexes & Research

Everything Home Children Canada has gathered, in one place.

New release

Annotated Sourcebook on the Emigration of Children to Canada, 1832–1926

“Room to Rest, and Room to Labour: Juvenile Emigration to Canada, 1832–1926” by Dr. Chris Willmore. A landmark multi-volume collection of annotated historical documents for descendants, researchers, authors, educators and historians, available free under a Creative Commons licence.

View the volumes
September 2026

Newsletter – National British Home Child Day, and the story of Charles Archer Hefferon

Home Children Canada has published newsletters since November 2013. Read the latest edition, browse the archive, or subscribe to receive each issue.

Read the September issue Subscribe Archive
Our Directors

Meet the Board

LO
Lori OschefskiPresident & Speaker
MM
Marie MayTreasurer
PJ
Paul JacksonPublic Relations
KF
Kim FarrellMarketing & Membership
DO
Dan OatmanDirector at large
MG
Marg GrahamFundraising
MF
Malcolm FarrowSecretary
In the press

Our work has been featured in

Who Do You Think You Are? magazine cover Who Do You Think You Are? magazine 2017 Your Family Tree magazine Canada Place, Vancouver, lit in red, white and blue for the Home Children

Help keep their memory alive

Home Children Canada is a registered charity run by volunteers. Join us, renew your membership, or make a donation to support the Home Children’s legacy.