This dissertation is a history of humanitarianism in Canada in the 1870s and 1880s. It examines the rise of the first Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in 1869 in Montreal and the destruction of the buffalo on the Canadian prairies by 1879. These two case studies on the historical treatment of animals are complemented by two other case studies which explore "man's humanity to man" in these years. One chapter examines how Montrealers responded to the indigent poor on their city streets, focusing particularly on the nature of humanitarian child-saving efforts which led to the removal of many poor children from their families. The last chapter investigates the nature and limits with which central and eastern Canadians responded to reports from the prairies of "starving Indians" following the destruction of the buffalo.
The dissertation makes sense of the seeming contradictory contemporary impulses which led to the protection of the domestic animals of the "uncivilized" urban poor on the one hand and the destruction of the buffalo (as a free roaming species) to make way for "civilization" on the other. It shows how both the SPCA movement and the destruction of the buffalo were the result of "civilization," signs of the emerging capitalist and colonial order. It demonstrates that contemporaries recognized and were dismayed by the central role played by civilized white hunters in the destruction of the buffalo. Once the buffalo disappeared, a new narrative emerged that blamed the Indians for the destruction, helping to justify Canadian domination of the prairies. The thesis also demonstrates that as dominant culture took on the mantle of humanity to animals, through the establishment
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/2292 |
| Date | 02 March 2010 |
| Creators | Sitara, Georgia |
| Contributors | Marks, Lynne Sorrel |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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