Chasing the Social Evil: Moral Fervour and the Evolution of Canada's Prostitution Laws, 1867-1917.

Abstract

[T]he ordinary citizen who detests exploited prostitution has no unbalanced desire for legislation at any price. He or she is prepared to face the inescapable truth that the causes of this evil cannot be touched by law, however perfectly conceived, however perfectly administered. Those who are obsessed by a frenzy for legislative measures achieve contentment and futility. The slow way is the only way of advance here: education, a changed social outlook, a gradual reorganization of economic conditions, these may remove such causes as are within our control. And not the wisest of us can prophesy but that we shall find the primary cause will baffle us at the end. Teresa Billington-GreigThe relationship between criminal law and morality is one which has always evoked strong feelings. Moreover, the question of whether and how to use criminal law sanctions to curb sexual immorality has been particularly susceptible to both outbursts of moral fervour in the community at large and to the pressure exercised by crusaders and propagandists with moral missions.

'Our Strength comes from the Land'1: the Hybrid Culinary Traditions of the Six Nations of Grand River in the Early Twentieth Century

“…Some of this research appears in this thesis, but is also the basis for a future project. 88 Janice Forsyth suggests that -we have little understanding of how First Nations women view their own histories,‖ and suggests that historians collect and use oral histories. 89 Oral history would have provided an additional layer of evidence to this project, but it was beyond the scope of this project for numerous reasons.…”

“…Wherever they exist, I have used the words of women themselves from oral interviews done in the past, or from newspaper articles that quote them. The minute books of 88 Alison Norman, "Transatlantic Allies: Scottish Women and the Six Nations of Grand River, Canada" (paper presented at Gendering Imperialis m: Ho me, Colony and the Construction of Gender Identities, Ed inburgh, Scotland, 8 November 2008). 89 Forsyth, "After the Fur Trade: First Nations Women in Canadian History, 1850 -1950," 11. the Ohsweken Women's Institute are especially valuable for this reason.…”

“…88 In the years 1907 and 1923, the greatest advancement in education was made than during the Indian Agency of Major Gordon J. Smith.‖ 94 While the federal government and its funding of the schools was paramount to education at Grand River, the use of the provincial curriculum, the construction of the schools themselves, and the requirement of provincial teaching certifica tes the provincial education system suggest the considerable influence of the provincial education system. Schools at Grand River were a hybrid, and in many ways, were quite similar to the surrounding schools in Brant County.…”

“…One of them carried a tomahawk, a heavy-headed weapon, which had been used in a battle at Queenston in 1812. 88 Clear Sky was not the leader, but the paper likely assumed so because of his ornamental dress.…”

“…88 Mariana Valverde suggests that Native women prostitutes in the West were the target of churches, missionaries, and white settler women, but that it is unclear whether Native women were voluntary prostitutes or were coerced. 89 The Association was likely the first Native women's organization concerned with similar sorts of moral issues as non-Native women at the time.…”