PARENTAGE OF CANADIAN BORN IN REFORMATORIES 181
No great importance can be attached to any generalizations based on the section of
the table under the heading “mixed parentage”. The number of cases is so small that
one is not justified in assuming them to be representative.
Taking the figures as they stand, however, they suggest that the most desirable parentage
from the standpoint of the proportion of children in the reformatories in 1921 was where
the fathers were Canadian and the mothers foreign born. Where the mothers were Canadian
born and the fathers foreign born, it was only slightly less desirable. For both of the above
types of mixed parentage, the proportions in reformatories are much lower than when both
parents are Canadian born. The influence of British parentage on. the high proportion
of Canadian born children in reformatories is reflected in the percentages where one parent
is British born and the other is foreign. The rate per 100,000 in reformatories is higher
than where both parents are foreign born, and the explanation is doubtless at least in part
related to the consideration mentioned above in respect to the differential effect of the
war on the various classes of the population in Canada. The tentative nature of the
conclusions in this paragraph should be borne in mind.
TABLE 112—PARENTAGE OF THE CANADIAN-BORN REFORMATORY POPULATION, 1921.
Mixed Parentage
Jneparent|Oneparent
British, |Crenaien
other other
Foreign British
Reformatory populationt...........| 1,767
Total population, 10-20 years.......!1.559,839
Number in reformatories per
100.000 population 10-20 vears. | 113
1,280 | 187 9 15 16 17
1,184,279 | 91,473 | 120,865 27,008 | 25,325 | 9,560
100 | 204 78! 56 63 178
99
90,089
110
1 Includes 48, parentage not specified.
Origin and Birthplace—Table 113 (p. 183) gives the reformatory population of Canada in
1921 by ‘origin’ and broad nativity groups, and Table 114 assembles the data for European
stocks in geographical and linguistic classes. In certain minor cases figures are not available
to complete the tables, but for all the important stocks the tables are complete. A careful
study will reveal many interesting facts. but only a few of the most important will be
mentioned.
First, as to the relation between birthplace and proportion in reformatories. An idea
has been prevalent that the foreign born adults are on the whole quite law-abiding, but
the children of foreign born parents break away from parental authority and become a very
grave social problem. The reasoning is somewhat as follows: the child, through his school
and associations with children outside the home, readily acquires a knowledge of the
English or French language, learns Canadian customs and manners and soon is more
familiar with the new country than his parents, who are less ready to give up their native
habits and learn Canadian ways. The result is that the child tends to feel that he knows
a great deal more than his parents about other things as well; the parental authority is
weakened and the discipline of the home suffers. The statistics for Canadian reformatories
are not inconsistent with that thesis, though they cannot be used to prove it. They rather
localize the problem as far as the birthplace of the child is concerned.
The number per 100,000 in reformatories of the children born outside of Canada in
1921 was 214, while the proportion among. the Canadian born was only 113. This fact means
that the chance of an immigrant born child being in a reformatory was, on the average,
90 p.c. greater than that for a Canadian born child. But it may be thought that the figure
for the Canadian born is unduly influenced by the low rates among the Canadian born
proportions of a few of the stocks whose residence in Canada has been of several generations
and whose children are comparatively law abiding. If that be the case, such a comparison
would be invalidated by differences of origin and would prove nothing as to the influence of
birthplace. An examination of Table 113, however, shows that for almost every stock,
