The Canadian Patriotic Fund (1914–1919) was a private fund-raising organization incorporated in 1914 by federal statute and headed by

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businessman and

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Sir

Herbert Brown Ames Sir Herbert Brown Ames (June 27, 1863 – March 31, 1954) was a Canadian businessman, philanthropist and politician. Ames was born in Montreal as the only son of Evan Fisher Ames (who founded the shoe manufacturer Ames, Holden & Company in ...

. The fund was established to give financial and social assistance to soldiers' families. By March 31, 1917, the Canadian Patriotic Fund had collected $22,981,616. The Irish poet Michael A. Hargadon, who was a reporter with the Montreal Star, wrote a poem entitled ''To Those They Left Behind'' which was widely published in newspapers and magazines across Canada, and helped raise several million dollars in contributions towards the Canadian Patriotic Fund. An earlier version of the Fund had operated during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

for the same purpose, after being announced by

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, the

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, on January 12, 1900, as a way of coordinating the efforts of numerous smaller organizations that had been competing against each other.Gordon L. Heath, ''War with a Silver Lining: Canadian Protestant Churches and the South African War, 1899-1902'' (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2009) p80 The earlier Fund was incorporated by Parliament on May 23, 1901 and raised $339,975.63 during its existence, with charitable disbursements to 1,066 recipients. The CPF was a centralized fund administered in communities by local volunteer groups. Abuse of the system has been reported, including recipients being cut off arbitrarily based on the moral judgements of volunteers, who were often middle- and upper-class citizens. Some women were denied benefits for being seen to spend their money frivolously, or for being suspected of extramarital affairs while their soldier husbands were away. Examples of "extravagance" in spending: having a telephone at home, going out dancing, taking a taxi, shopping "in broad daylight." There was no appeal system.

References

Charities based in Canada Organizations established in 1914 Canadian home front during World War I {{Canada-org-stub