​​Between the years 1869 and 1940, more than 100,000 children were gathered up off the streets of London and shipped to Canada, where they were supposed to be given a better life. Promised an education and wages for work done, many of these children were forced to endure hard labour on farms and a life of servitude in homes where they were often called “guttersnipes” and “sewer rats.” On paper, the idea of helping poor, starving orphans sounded ideal, but in reality, many of these children were lost, alienated and scared. Some were not even orphans but were sent to Canada until their parents' circumstances could improve enough to bring them home. In many cases, that never happened, or the children became so lost in the system, their legal parents could never find them again.