MP-1980.32.1.233 | Rural children with patched clothes, St. Antoine, Gaspe Peninsula, QC, about 1930
Rural children with patched clothes, St. Antoine, Gaspe Peninsula, QC, about 1930
Anonyme - Anonymous
About 1930, 20th century
Silver salts on paper - Gelatin silver process
6 x 8 cm
Gift of Mrs. Charles W. Wagner
MP-1980.32.1.233
© McCord Museum
Description
Keywords: History (944) , Photograph (77678)
Keys to History
In Central and Eastern Canada, many farms were on land that was ill-suited to agriculture. Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula offered many examples: farms located on the Canadian Shield or near its edge. Most farmers were in debt, and poverty was an ever-present fact of life.
Clothes were worn until they fell apart; shoes were rarely used during the summer months. Diets that were short of necessary vitamins and minerals undermined health. Good medical care was difficult to obtain.
For decades Quebec governments saw no need to do much for farmers. This changed after the Union nationale (UN), led by Maurice Duplessis (1890-1959), took office in 1936. Elected on a platform stressing industrial, financial and agrarian reform, the UN ignored many of the promises it had made but did increase the aid given to farmers.
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What
During the Depression, hundreds of thousands of Canadian farm families still lacked electricity.
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Where
The Gaspé Peninsula is in eastern Quebec, on the south shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. St. Antoine is a tiny community in that region.
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When
This photo was taken in 1930, at the start of the Depression, indicating that these children had long been poor.
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Who
Philippe Panneton (1895-1960), pen name "Ringuet", gave an unflinching account of Quebec farm life, from the 1890s into the Depression, in his 1938 novel Trente Arpents (Thirty Acres).
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