warrant. One of the 14 boys was sentenced to
four years; five were sentenced to three years;
another five received a sentence of two years;
one was given a one-month sentence; and the
sentences of the last two were not listed. The
boys were 10 to 15 years old.

The official staff at this institution included
Superintendent D, Donaldson, an instructor,
A.W. Jones, a gardener, E.O. Arnold, and a
cook, J. Inglis. This was in contrast to the two
official staff at the Victoria Juvenile
Reformatory—the superintendent and his
assistant.

Because delinquency was viewed as caused by
improper discipline and training of boys in their
home, discipline was stressed in the new school.
Attention was also given to providing a
supportive home-like environment. As stated
by the superintendent of the provincial
industrial school:

We aim to do for the boy what his former
environment has failed to do, the cause of
many of the boys’ delinquencies being often
a lack of home training. We make the
institution a home and school, eliminating
the prison idea as much as possible.

Despite the emphasis on providing a home-like
environment for these offenders, a military tone
pervaded the institution. In this respect, it was
similar to other industrial schools for boys
across Canada at this time.

In the latter part of 1905, the deputy attorney
general received information on the rules
governing industrial schools in Ontario from
J J. Kelso, Superintendent of Neglected and
Dependent Children. In this information, a
distinction was made between an industrial
school and a reformatory. According to Kelso,

the reformatory and industrial school were
similar, although an industrial school had more
“humane” rules:

The chief reason why our Reformatory was
closed was that it was out of date—high
walls, iron bars and prison discipline, with a
class of officials who were not fully in
touch with a boy’s life.

The Industrial School for Boys included:

» Boys 10-16 years who could not be managed
or controlled in any other way;

» An indeterminate plan, meaning that boys
were committed under guardianship of the
institution and remained under supervision
until the age of 21. In Ontario, boys were
usually released after six months. If they
misbehaved, they could be brought...);

» A “good” couple in charge with “Christian
character, practical common sense and love
for children”; and

» Small cottages to house not more than 20
boys each,

The environment of the school was intended to
imitate family life. In practice, it was another
story. In British Columbia and other
jurisdictions in Canada and the United States,
inmates slept in one large dormitory on cots,
not in smaller units supervised by surrogate
parents. They responded to a bell and were
trained by a drill instructor. They wore
uniforms and followed a schedule.

The emphasis was on order, discipline and
obedience. The structured environment
included industrial work, school, physical
exercise and military drill, recreation, and moral
and religious training.

34

Corrections in British Columbia