Early in the Great Depression, English and French business leaders in
Montreal presided over the reorganization and rationalization of
Catholic charities in their communities with the blessing, but not the
active participation, of the Church. Thus started a decades-long
transition from religious charity to public welfare, from largely
volunteer work to professional social work, from charity provided by
alms to private assistance financed by centralized, large-scale
campaigns. Focusing on the Fédération des OEuvres de charité
canadiennes-françaises and the Federation of Catholic Charities, Amélie
Bourbeau analyzes organizational records, newspapers, government
reports, and personal papers to provide new insights into the history of
Catholic charities in Montreal. Far from experiencing a linear
development, Bourbeau argues, both francophone and anglophone
federations were sites of experimentation and innovation, but also
conflict - between volunteers and professionals, laypeople and clergy,
traditional charity and modern assistance, and sometimes between the
communities and the federations themselves - as they evolved towards
their current affiliation with state-run social work. From the Great
Depression through to the Quiet Revolution, citizenship, the role of the
state, and the meanings of religion and language were all subjects of
dramatic debate and change in Quebec. By looking closely at the history
of social assistance, Techniciens de l'organisation sociale provides a
new vantage point from which to understand these transformations.
