>My point somehow got lost the last time but I will say it again: if you let an organization "do its own books," it can go corrupt and stay that way.
That's true, but let's contextualize this a little because that point isn't necessarily relevant here.
The modern welfare state is .. well .. a modern post-WW2 invention. Pre-WW2 and certainly pre-1900, in most (if not all nations) there was no such thing as a government provided a social safety net - this is doubly true for the nascent frontier Canadian government which had neither the funds, nor the capability to administer a huge land-mass. In addition, providing a social safety net was not seen as a purview of a frontier government anyway. Settlers were issued a deed and expected to figure things out on their own.
The church took on the role of providing charity because there was no other institution that did.
Deputy Minister of Indian Affairs in Canada in 1920:
"I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone... Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department."
"In 1920, amendments to the Indian Act make it mandatory for every Indian child between the ages of seven and six-teen years, to attend Indian residential school."
"In 1933, legal guardianship of the Indian children attending Indian residential school was assumed by the principals of those Indian residential schools, upon the forcible surrender of legal custody by parents."
That's true, but let's contextualize this a little because that point isn't necessarily relevant here.
The modern welfare state is .. well .. a modern post-WW2 invention. Pre-WW2 and certainly pre-1900, in most (if not all nations) there was no such thing as a government provided a social safety net - this is doubly true for the nascent frontier Canadian government which had neither the funds, nor the capability to administer a huge land-mass. In addition, providing a social safety net was not seen as a purview of a frontier government anyway. Settlers were issued a deed and expected to figure things out on their own.
The church took on the role of providing charity because there was no other institution that did.