Financial Fetters: Mothers, Lone Parents and Welfare Reform, Winnipeg in the 1960s

Abstract

This thesis is a study of Manitoba’s social welfare system in the 1960s based on findings in the provincial and City of Winnipeg’s annual reports. In order to understand the position of welfare administrators during this decade, a general history of welfare reform is included. This history begins with the early forms of relief and incorporates a comparison of welfare programs as they developed in Canada and the United States. The main focus of this thesis is to determine the effect that welfare policies had on single mothers. In order to understand these policies an in-depth examination of the monthly allowances, the application process and the level of stigmatization surrounding welfare is included. This thesis concludes that the Mothers’ Allowance program was the precursor of today’s social safety nets, which culminated in a fully-realized social welfare system in the 1960s.