A Critical History of Social Work, The Canadian Salvation Army, and Female Sexual "Deviance" in Canada, 1886-1940 by Bonnie Sawyer B.A., University of Guelph, 2012 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History Bonnie Sawyer, 2014 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee A Critical History of Social Work, The Canadian Salvation Army, and Female Sexual "Deviance" in Canada, 1886-1940 by Bonnie Sawyer B.A., University of Guelph, 2012 Supervisory Committee Dr. Lynne Marks (Department of History) Supervisor Dr. Annalee Lepp (Department of Women's Studies) Departmental Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Lynne Marks (Department of History) Supervisor Dr. Annalee Lepp (Department of Women's Studies) Departmental Member Canadian historians tend to present the field of social work that emerged in the early twentieth century as a secular and scientific advancement from inefficient, religious charity work that predated it. This thesis not only challenges the binary thinking as it pertains to social work and charity, but argues that social work was established in Canada by religious groups, many of which were evangelical, such as the Canadian Salvation Army. Introduced to American social work theories and methods in the late nineteenth century, the Canadian Salvation Army incorporated the theory of "feeblemindedness," and the methods of casework and classification, into their traditional discourses on, and practices with, female sexual "deviants" in the early-twentieth century. From 1910 to 1940, there was a transition period between the dominance of evangelical charity and that of secular social work, in working with female sexual "deviants," throughout which evangelicals braided religious discourses with those of scientific social work. By 1940 secular social workers had won the battle for supremacy, and as a result, the dehumanization of sex workers and unmarried mothers increased as they went from being understood as victims/sinners who could be fully reclaimed, to biologically inferior and subjected to forced institutionalization and sterilization. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ...................................................................................................... ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... v Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: Historiography and Methodology ..................................................................... 6 Historiography ................................................................................................................ 6 Sources...........................................................................................................................34 Author's Bias..................................................................................................................36 Chapter 2: The Canadian Salvation Army and Sex Workers, 1884-1910 ........................ 38 Salvation Army Rescue Officers .................................................................................. 38 Salvation Army Theology ............................................................................................. 43 Understandings of "Fallen Women" ............................................................................. 46 Services for "Fallen Women" ....................................................................................... 53 Lived Experiences ......................................................................................................... 68 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 72 Chapter 3: The Canadian Salvation Army, Unmarried Mothers, and the Rise of Social Work, 1911-1940 .............................................................................................................. 74 Terminology .................................................................................................................. 74 Sex workers to Unmarried Mothers .............................................................................. 76 The Rise of Social Work ............................................................................................... 79 "Feeblemindedness" ...................................................................................................... 81 Maternity Hospitals: Classification and Casework ....................................................... 86 Lived Experiences ......................................................................................................... 94 Social Work Organizations and Journals ...................................................................... 96 The Medical-Scientific Community ............................................................................. 99 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 112 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 114 The Scientific Construction of Female ―Deviance‖ Today ........................................ 115 The Role of Religious Organizations in Contemporary Social Services .................... 119 Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 124 v List of Tables Table 1: Salvation Army Rescue Home Locations and Years Built, p. 55 Table 2: Salvation Army Rescue Home Statistics for 1896, p. 66 Table 3: Salvation Army Rescue Home Statistics for 1897, p. 66 Table 4: Salvation Army Rescue Home Statistics for 1904, p. 67 Table 5: Salvation Army Maternity Hospital Locations and Years Built, p. 86 1 Introduction In 1887, the Canadian Salvation Army proclaimed that "underneath the seemingly moral surface of our national life, there is a terrible under-current of unclean vice with all its concomitant evils of ruined lives, desolated hearth-stones, prostituted bodies, decimated constitutions, and early dishonoured graves."1 They continued: "...our Canadian cities, fair and comely and Christian as they confessedly appear to be, bear upon their streets and hide beneath their immoral houses troops of girls – and many of them mere children – who are earning the wages of sin."2 Using discourse that was typical of late-nineteenth century evangelicals, the Salvation Army alleged that women were "falling" into sex work in increasing and alarming numbers, and it was their mission to do the work of God by rescuing these supposedly helpless and pitiable creatures. Throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, many religious groups, including the Catholic Church and a range of Protestant denominations, both evangelical and non-evangelical, directed social services for sex workers, unmarried mothers, and other female sexual "deviants" in Canada. This thesis focuses specifically on the work of Protestant evangelicals, one of the most active religious groups in the field of saving "fallen women." Understanding these women as victims and sinners who could be fully reclaimed through an acceptance of God, evangelicals established rescue homes in which they taught discipline, domestic skills, and the word of God. The Canadian Salvation Army, a leader in evangelical rescue work, boasted fourteen rescue homes across the country by 1910. Dominant narratives, both popular and academic, suggest that, at this moment of institutional expansion, social workers suddenly appeared and took over services for female sexual "deviants." Many 1"Our Rescue Home," The War Cry, 24 December 1887, 1. 2Ibid. 2 historians claim that social workers, armed with the doctrines of "science" and "secularism," transformed backward and inefficient religious-based social services into modern and progressive ones. These assertions may, however, simply be ploys to celebrate the advent of science and secularism and do not reflect the more complex dynamics that led to the rise of social work in Canada. Social work was largely introduced in Canada by evangelicals as part of their spiritual mission in the early 1900s. Influenced by the creation of social work in the United States, evangelicals incorporated American social work concepts and practices into their work in Canada long before secular social work was established. In the 1900s, the Canadian Salvation Army, for example, incorporated the American social work concept of "feeblemindedness" and the social work practices of classification and casework into their work with female sexual "deviants." These new concepts and practices did not replace traditional ones, but were integrated with them, creating a fusion of evangelical and scientific discourses. It was not until the 1920s that secular social workers formed a cohesive group in Canada due, in part, to the establishment