Descendants of the ‘British Home Children’ who were forcibly sent to Canada are calling for them to be commemorated with a public memorial.
The British Home Children Memorial Committee has launched an online petition calling for the creation of a memorial in Liverpool.
Between 1869 and 1939, 100,000 children from British children’s homes and workhouses were sent to Canada in charitable schemes.
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While the emigration scheme was intended to give the children a better life, many ended up as forced labourers on Canadian farms and suffered abuse in their new homes.
Laura Harper from the British Home Children Memorial Committee, whose two great aunts were among the British Home Children, said: “This is the biggest story in the UK that no one knows about. 100,000 little children, taken from their homes, shipped across the Atlantic and forgotten. Many suffered horrific abuse. There are now millions of family relatives in Canada. But no memorial anywhere in the UK.”
She said the memorial should be in Liverpool because around 80% of Home Children departed from the city.
“Many sailed back via Liverpool as soldiers during the two world wars,” she added.
Liverpool City Council did not respond to a request for comment.
