The Origins & Legacy of YouthLink
YouthLink was created as the Big Sisters Movement in 1914 by Hilda Burns. Burns was a social worker with the mandate to work with, and advocate for teenage girls referred to as offenders.
When YouthLink was the Big Sisters Association of Metropolitan Toronto, it was a leader in girl’s mental health, and educational rights, as well as running extra curricular activities for girls to enjoy.
This was done at a time when women were not expected to pursue an education, and did not have many rights. For example, women were not allowed to hold office. The Big Sisters Movement paved the way for women’s rights in Canada, and helped usher several girls to have an education when they were segregated in the early 20th century.
Managing mental health was one of the biggest problems girls faced in the early history of YouthLink. At that time, men were increasingly taking advantage of and exploiting young girls with mental disorders. The Big Sisters were driven to emphasize the importance of mental health, and return these girls their voices to allow them to be heard. Lady Byng, the wife of former governor-general of Canada, Lord Byng, was a big advocate for protecting young girls from abusive men.
The Big Sisters Association of Metropolitan Toronto had helped several youths with their mental health issues by engaging them in their communities through educational, and extra curricular opportunities.
One of the Big Sisters of Metropolitan Toronto’s biggest achievement was with giving girls the right to an education. From 1914-1947, the Big Sisters were giving financial aid to girls attending or desiring to attend secondary schools (Robinson H, Big Sisters Bulletin, Volume 1 - No. - Some Facts About the Scholarship Work of the Big Sister Association). Furthermore, a girl did not have to be a brilliant student to get to secondary schools, as the main requirement was to pass the entrance exam.
The Big Sisters Association of Metropolitan Toronto did not stop there thought, as they provided free lunches to girls who either had a working mother, or had some form of family illness.
The Big Sisters provided girls with makeup, along with the free lunches, which emphasized their want to help girls find a place in the world where they are able to learn, and enjoy their life.
Extra-Curricular Activities
The Big Sisters played a big roles in girl’s education, and giving girls a chance to explore themselves through extra-curricular activities. These extra-curricular activities were done under summer camps, which helped under-privileged girls living under anti-social conditions.
These summer camps housed 125 girls on average for up to 2 weeks. These camps included dancing classes that allowed young girls to be kids, enjoy themselves, and to focus on life outside of their personal and mental problems.
Influence of YouthLink’s Origin in Canada
The Big Sisters Movement plays a major role in how YouthLink serve youth in Scarborough today, which is to help youth and their families in any way possible.
Giving young girls a pathway to secondary school, and advocating for mental-well being, and the creation of summer camps helped bridge the gender gap in Toronto, at a time where gender equality barely existed.
It also paved the way for YouthLink to help as many people as possible with initiatives to help underprivileged youth in Scarborough, just like what the Big Sisters Movement did for young girls.
