J. J. Kelso

John Joseph Kelso (31 March 1864 – 30 September 1935) was a newspaper reporter and social crusader who immigrated to Canada from Ireland with his family in 1874 when he was ten years old. They suffered hardships of hunger and cold in their early years in Toronto and, throughout his life, this motivated Kelso's compassion towards the poor and unfortunate.

While a reporter for the World and the Globe, Kelso founded the Toronto Humane Society in 1887 for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals, the Fresh Air Fund and the Santa Claus Fund in 1888 to provide excursions and cheer for poor women and children, and the Children's Aid Society (Canada) in 1891.

In response, money started to roll in for the establishment of such an organisation. J.J., however, began to envision a society oriented towards the prevention of all types of cruelty, including children as well as animals. A personal experience strongly influenced him.

Walking along Yonge Street late one night in November 1886, he came across two sobbing children, a brother and a sister. They told him that their father had promised them a severe beating unless they could beg at least 25 cents that night. So far their tally was only 15 cents. J.J. took pity on them and searched for three hours to find a charitable institution to take them in for the night. The parents were charged the next morning with neglect but the case was dismissed by the judge on the basis that there were insufficient grounds for prosecution .

Shortly afterwards, the secretary of the Canadian Institute, where reform issues were often discussed, jocularly asked him to speak. J.J. took advantage of the opportunity and, on 19 February 1887, delivered a paper whose title was "The necessity of a society for the prevention of cruelty in Toronto". He called for a non-denominational humane society with a broad set of objectives to include both children and animals. His paper was received enthusiastically.

Encouraged, J.J. began to set up such a humane society in 1887; for whom he became treasurer in 1918 a position he held until 1935. J.J. cooperated with the police towards the protection of both children and animals.

Children's Aid Society The support for the idea was positive, so J.J. followed up with a meeting on 18 July 1891 called to establish in Toronto a Children's Aid Society and Fresh Air Fund. Its objectives were many and here J.J. brought all his ideas together – a shelter for neglected children, adequate schools for the poor, separate treatment for juvenile offenders and more youth clubs and playgrounds.

The meeting passed a motion to form such a society and J.J. was elected its first president. Though he resigned six months later due to pressure of work – he was still a reporter at The Globe – he achieved his emergency shelter, which opened in 1892 at 18 Centre Street. John Kidston MacDonald, the dry goods merchant, replaced him as president.

The Children's Charter The need for child welfare reform was now well established in the public mind and among politicians. In 1893, two years after the founding of the Children's Aid Society and Fresh Air Fund, the government introduced a bill, known as "The Children's Charter", that provided for the establishment of children's aid societies across the province and ushered in the modern era of child welfare legislation.

In May of that year, J.J. Kelso, Globe reporter and president of the press gallery of the legislature, watched with joy as the Act for the Prevention of Cruelty to and Better Protection of Children was passed. Given his expertise in child protection, Premier Mowat appointed him to the position of Superintendent of Neglected and Dependent Children provided for in the act. Thus, J.J. gave up his journalistic ambitions to follow the dictates of his conscience.

The Settlement House movement In 1911 Kelso, along with Arthur Burnett, George Bryce, Elizabeth Neufeld and others co-founded Central Neighbourhood House the second such organisation in Toronto at the time. Kelso served as CNH's first chair. Settlements were intended to bridge the chasm between rich and poor by bringing workers into urban slums to live communally with those they intended to help. They challenged the notion of 19th century charities by working alongside the poor and disenfranchised as neighbours and friends, in an "illustration of social equality and democracy" Central Neighbourhood House continues to thrive in Toronto's downtown east end.

Death In the last years of his life Kelso's hearing and health were beginning to fail him and in 1930 he was diagnosed with liver cancer; which lead to his death on 30 September 1935.