Alvin Ratz Kaufman

Alvin Ratz "A. R." Kaufman (February 11, 1885 – February 1, 1979) was a Canadian industrialist, philanthropist, birth control advocate and eugenicist from Kitchener, Ontario. In 1920 he became president of the Kaufman Rubber Company following the death of his father, Jacob Kaufman, with whom he founded the company in 1908. He held the position until 1964 with his time in the role marked by a strong and persistent opposition to organized labour. An active member of the municipal activities in Kitchener, he chaired the city's planning commission and was a significant supporter the local YMCA and YWCA. Kaufman was also a member of the University of Waterloo's first Board of Governors.

Beyond his civic engagements, Kaufman was a member of the Eugenics Society of Canada and a vocal advocate of birth control to address social and economic hardship. He founded the Parents' Information Bureau in the early 1930s to distribute information about birth control and provide access to sterilization services. In 1936, one of the Bureau's employees, Dorothea Palmer, was arrested and charged under section 207 of the Criminal Code, which outlawed the selling or advertising of contraceptives. Her legal fees covered by Kaufman, and Palmer was acquitted on the basis that her actions had passed the criminal code's pro bono publico (for the public good) clause.

Biography Kaufman was born February 11, 1885, in Berlin (now Kitchener), Ontario, to industrialist Jacob Kaufman and Mary Ratz. Kaufman, like his parents, was a life-long member of the Zion United Church. His mother served as the first president of the Berlin YWCA, which was founded at the church in 1905. Kaufman began working with his father in 1903, as an employee at the Merchant's Rubber Company. His father served as president until his death in 1920, at which time A. R. stepped into the role. After becoming president he expanded the company's products to include rubber clothing suitable for industries like fishing. Amid Kaufman's continued threats to close the factory for the winter, the workers ultimately gained nothing with wages and work conditions remaining in line with those in place prior to the strike.

Another strike occurred in July 1960 with the union seeking a 15-cent-an-hour wage increase, a contract that ensured job security and the introduction of a grievance process. Described by the Toronto Daily Star as "stiffly anti-union," Kaufman deemed the union's demands unreasonable and refused to negotiate saying: "I won't meet with the union now because there's no point. I have told them what we will do and it is final." On August 17, 1960, the union submitted an application to the Ontario labour relations board to prosecute Kaufman for failing to bargain in good faith.

Birth control and eugenics

Kaufman is recognized for playing a key role the birth-control movement in Canada. He became interested in birth control in 1929 at the beginning of the Great Depression. Although company operations had previously relied on seasonal labour, increased layoffs during the Depression brought complaints that those in the most need were being impacted. Visits to family homes by a company nurse supported that those with the most children and the poorest living conditions were struggling compared to those who remained employed.

Initially extended to current and former employees, the family planning services funded by Kaufman were extended to anyone in the Kitchener area. Requests were later received from elsewhere in the province and across Canada. He founded the Parents' Information Bureau (PIB) to help meet increasing demand. Families visited by PIB representatives were able to make orders for supplies that were in turn mailed directly to their homes. He further believed that the socially and mentally deficient were unable to reliably use alternative methods of birth control such as properly inserting a diaphragm, making sterilization the best way to prevent them from reproducing. Kaufman continued to support and advocate eugenics well after the widespread abandonment of eugenic social policies following World War II. She was arrested for promoting contraception to women in the poor Roman Catholic Ottawa community of Eastview. At the time 1,000 of the 4,000 people living in the area were on social assistance, many with large families. He spent the then considerable sum of $25,000 mounting a defence for Palmer in what would later be known as The Eastview Birth Control Trial (1936–1937). The verdict was challenged in the Ontario Court of Appeal, but ultimately upheld.

Philanthropy Kaufman was a generous benefactor of Kitchener's public works and services, including the donation of three parks – Kaufman, Hillside and Huron. He and his wife donated the funds for an addition to the Emmanuel Evangelical Church, which was dedicated in their honour in 1938. Kaufman was a member of the city's Planning Commission for 36 years and continued his family's active support of the YMCA and its various activities. Kaufman was honoured along with Elizabeth Bagshaw, Lise Fortier, George C. and Barbara Cadbury, by Ortho Pharmaceutical Ltd. in 1973 for their roles in advancing family planning in Canada. Kaufman was again honoured in 1976 by Planned Parenthood of Ontario for his work in advancing access to birth control and family planning services.

Kaufman died in his sleep on February 1, 1979.

In 2021, a Waterloo Region District School Board school board committee reviewed school names. It noted Kaufman's efforts to sterilize low-income, working-class employees and those with physical or mental disabilities. In April 2023, Trustees at the Waterloo Region District School Board voted to rename the school from "A.R. Kaufman Public School" to "Hillside Public School".