The author Carol Marie Newall discusses her book Outside the Gate: The True Story of a British Home Child in Canada (Barlow Books, 2022), with Joseph Planta.

Outside the Gate: The True Story of a British Home Child in Canada by Carol Marie Newall (Barlow Books, 2022). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Outside the Gate

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

The story of one of the more than 100,000 “home children” Britain sent here between 1869 and 1948 is told in a new book, Outside the Gate: The True Story of a British Home Child in Canada. Carol Marie Newall is the author, and she is the granddaughter of Winnie Cooper, one of these children born in the slums of England, and sent to Canada to work as indentured farmers and domestics. There was the promise of opportunity, and while some managed to make a good life, a lot were abused and neglected. In Winnie’s case, she was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, and sent at 12 to Barnardo’s Village Home for Girls. Three years later she was shipped off to a farm in rural Ontario. Carol narrates Winnie’s rough life, as well as the starting of a family, the one Carol is born into. What Carol has yielded from Winnie’s troubled life is a marvelous family history, as well as insight into herself. I’ll ask Carol about the impetus to write this book, as well as how she went about it. Carol Newall is a mother of three, and a grandmother of four. She is a graduate of the Ryerson University School of Business. Visit www.carolnewall.com for more information especially on the complex socio-economic conditions in Britain and Canada that led to this immigration program, as well as resources to help others find their roots. This book is from Barlow Books. We taped this interview fifteen days ago, with Carol joining me from her home in Muskoka Lakes District, Ontario. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Carol Newall; Ms. Newall, good morning.

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