Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females
@amreformatory.bsky.social
Criminalized Women and Girls’ Ancestral Research: Supporting Descendants of Those Incarcerated or Born at the Institution and Adopted. #PrisonAdoptees #PrisonBorn #PunishedInUtero #Genealogy https://andrewmercerreformatory.org/
Vanishing Into Custody Indigenous women are overflowing the prison system. Nobody’s watching, and I lived it. indigenousinsider.substack.com/p/vanishing-...
Vanishing Into Custody
Indigenous women are overflowing the prison system. Nobody’s watching, and I lived it.
indigenousinsider.substack.com
For centuries, pregnant women were incarcerated, and their babies were forcibly removed for adoption—while few questioned it. This Article uses systems theory to outline the problem of automatic rights denial of children born to incarcerated persons. 👇 journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/cj...
Correctional Service Canada has been ordered to take steps to protect inmates from extreme heat in the Edmonton Institution for Women's secure unit. A judge says the service has failed to put an effective solution in place in spite of 20 years of complaints www.aptnnews.ca?p=291783
Court orders Alberta prison to protect inmates from extreme heat
A court said the Correctional Service Canada has failed to put an effective solution in place at the Edmonton Institution for Women's secure unit. Complaints about extreme heat go back two decades.
aptnnews.ca
Before it was Toronto's trendiest neighborhood, Liberty Village was home to the Toronto Central Prison and the Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women; institutions built to hold the people the city didn't want to see. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cmi...
The Dark History Behind Toronto's Trendiest Neighborhood | The Story of Liberty Village
YouTube video by Praeteritum
youtube.com
Nothing has changed since Mercer opened in 1880, with some women incarcerated up to 50 times.👇 "Third, fragmented access to treatment, recovery, harm reduction, and ongoing health supports leaves many people cycling between homelessness, shelters, hospitals, and the justice system." (see p. 2) 👇
Office of the Federal Housing Advocate@housinglogement.bsky.social · 3w agoHomelessness in Canada is a human rights crisis driven by systemic failures in housing, income, health, justice, and the impact of colonialism. The Federal Housing Advocate urges #HUMA to assess federal action through a human rights-based lens to address and prevent homelessness.
🧵1/2 Ontario Training Schools - To all survivors in Ontario, Canada, and beyond: you are not forgotten. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmQM...
They Knew
YouTube video by Reach for the Bible
youtube.com
🧵Canada has had NO comparable Truth Recovery Independent Panel to investigate maternity homes, reformatories, Good Shepherd Institutions, refuges, rescue homes, asylums, industrial and training schools, and other institutions in which women and girls were confined. www.tiktok.com/@newscoolfm/...
💔NEW: 'A little boy still looking for his mummy.' Estimated number of women admitted to Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries 2,000 higher than previously thought. 🎤Chief Reporter James Gould ...
TikTok video by CoolFMNews
tiktok.com
Responses to Sweden’s 2025 Adoption Reckoning by @tobiashubinette.bsky.social, born in South Korea, adopted to Sweden, academic 🥚 intercountryadopteevoices.com/2026/07/08/r...
Responses to Sweden’s 2025 Adoption Reckoning | InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV)
Sweden’s 2025 Adoption Commission report sparks adoptee, parent and agency responses on apology, support, reform, reparations and accountability.
intercountryadopteevoices.com
Sixty years ago today, on July 4, 1966, Toronto reached approximately 36.1°C (97°F). Imagine being locked in a tiny cell in that heat. Mercer experienced many riots over the years, and extreme conditions like this could only have added to the strain and tension endured by those confined there.
1/6🧵 Ontario decided it needed a separate prison for women. The result was the Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females, which opened on August 28, 1880. During the next 89 years, more than 20,000 women and girls would pass through its gates.
Survivors of Sexual Exploitation theprogressives.ca/in-the-senat...
Survivors of Sexual Exploitation - The Progressive Senate Group
https://youtu.be/TGS8lNMKBGs Hon. Julie Miville-Dechêne: I am honoured to introduce two remarkable, courageous women, Kathy King and Andrea Heinz — two surv ...
theprogressives.ca
“Prostituted women and girls constitute some of the most marginalized and violated groups in society — yet they are also the most forgotten." In Canada, descendants cannot access records of juvenile ancestors incarcerated at Mercer. The YCJA keeps these histories hidden. youtu.be/g7_XyT9ufwY?...
Prostitution is a System of Violence Against Women Expert Tells UN Human Rights Council | HRC56
YouTube video by UN Human Rights Council
youtu.be
We worked hard to break down this barrier. Three years. Multiple IPC orders. Dismissed reconsideration requests. The YCJA does not retroactively restrict access to records solely because an individual was under 18 while incarcerated at Mercer. PO-4827-R canlii.ca/t/kl2n3
1880–1969: the Mercer Reformatory incarcerated women for poverty, homelessness, drunkenness, and “immoral” conduct, often separating them from children deemed neglected and made Crown wards for adoption. It’s encouraging to see evidence-based and international approaches to address homelessness.👇
Office of the Federal Housing Advocate@housinglogement.bsky.social · 2mo agoGreat to learn more about evidence-based approaches to ending homelessness from Dr. Lígia Teixeira and other experts at the University of Ottawa and on Parliament Hill.
CCLA welcomes the Ontario Superior Court of Justice landmark decision affirming that unhoused people are entitled to full constitutional protection under the Charter and that governments must apply a human rights-based approach in responding to homeless encampments. ccla.org/press-releas...
CCLA Welcomes Historic Waterloo Court Decision Vindicating Rights of Unhoused People - CCLA
While federal political parties resist any form of privacy protection, a new poll finds Canadians do not trust them to protect their data.
ccla.org
Imagine if a rights-based approach to housing & homelessness had existed when Mercer was open (1880–1969). How many of the 20,000+ women & girls would have been safely housed instead of being criminalized & incarcerated? Many were confined there & exploited as forced labour at Mercer Industries.
Office of the Federal Housing Advocate@housinglogement.bsky.social · 3mo agoI was honoured to share the importance of a rights-based approach to housing and homelessness with federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for human rights today. (1/3)
Unfortunately, this structure was more of a facade, and the prison gained a notorious reputation for harsh discipline, riots, abuse, and controversial treatment practices. www.protectyourboundaries.ca/blog/post/lo...
Locked Up in Liberty: When Surveys Reveal Hard Truths
Liberty Village is one of Toronto's youngest neighbourhoods. Many assume this area was nothing more than an industrial zone before it became overrun with tech start-ups and yoga studios. Wondering abo...
protectyourboundaries.ca
Velma Demerson (1920–2019) died on May 13, 2019. Imprisoned in Ontario in 1939 for being with Chinese immigrant Harry Yip, she later fought for justice for women jailed under the Female Refuges Act. 🎬 Trailer: youtu.be/-2dzVlnDBzA?...
Incorrigible: A Film About Velma Demerson (Trailer)
YouTube video by Moving Images Distribution
youtu.be
Yr ending Mar 1964: 559 females imprisoned at Mercer—293 single, 266 married. Though framed as addressing a “child in need of protection,” the Ontario Child Welfare Act disproportionately impacted imprisoned single mothers, effectively treating sole caregiving as grounds for child removal.
Senator Kim Pate@kpateonthehill.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis #Mother’sDay, we honour all who mother. Let's remember that most women in prisons were the sole supports of children before they were jailed & work to ensure all mums have the supports & resources they need to keep & care for their children & themselves! #SenCA #cdnpoli youtu.be/oSaSWXHBaus
~200 children died in a Tooting cholera outbreak (1848–49). Most names lost. The man responsible was acquitted—and remembered. The children—the most vulnerable—not. Refusing their erasure. 👇 @genealogygraeme.bsky.social tooting180.org
Welcome to Tooting180
For the victims of the cholera outbreak in Tooting's pauper farm in 1848/49
tooting180.org
Yr ending Mar 1964: 559 females imprisoned at Mercer—293 single, 266 married. Though framed as addressing a “child in need of protection,” the Ontario Child Welfare Act disproportionately impacted single mothers, effectively treating sole caregiving as grounds for child removal.
In 1953, my teenage mother spent weeks in what was known as the “dungeon” at the Andrew Mercer Reformatory as punishment for escaping. A decade for Tona Mills is deeply distressing; it’s hard to grasp that those in authority allowed her and others to be subjected to such inhumane and cruel TORTURE.
Senator Kim Pate@kpateonthehill.bsky.social · 3mo agoYesterday, the Senate passed Tona’s Law, Bill S-205. This bill is the result of decades of work to uphold human rights for those most marginalized and to ensure that what happens behind prison walls is never beyond accountability. 1/4 #TonasLaw #EndSolitary #HumanRights #Cdnpoli
New book on Ireland’s Catholic-run institutions that imprisoned thousands of women and girls. In Canada, meanwhile, records are blocked by federal & provincial laws. It raises a haunting question: what happened to the babies born in our Magdalene asylums? www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...
The Fallen by Louise Brangan review – an enraging account of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries
The horrifying story of the Catholic-run institutions that incarcerated thousands of women and girls
theguardian.com
Our 2025 Annual Report to Parliament is now available! After a year that presented Canada with some of the most significant challenges in our nation’s history, it is clear that respect for human rights must be one of the core values we fight for, together. (1/2)
Eugenic ideology shaped laws, abusive institutions, and forced sterilization. Today, federal and provincial disclosure laws still hide the experiences of women and girls in Canada labeled “incorrigible,” blocking access to records. The U. S. #Incorrigibles Ry Marcattilio-McCracken 👇
🧵Canada Must Confront the Legacy of Forced Adoptions of Babies Born to Unmarried Mothers in Maternity Homes 1/4 🥚
🥚"... Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho said the country’s past adoptions amounted to “forced child trafficking” and that the government will largely refrain from appealing rulings in cases brought by victims seeking compensation for government wrongdoing"
Prison Adoptee@prisonadoptee.bsky.social · 4mo agoIn 1939, Demerson was just 18 years old, when a love story with her Chinese boyfriend Harry Yip turned tragic. Her father, outraged that she would marry a Chinese man, had her arrested & put in jail for one year for being Incorrigible under the Ontario Female Refuges Act. vimeo.com/254147984/ec...
Incorrigible - A film about Velma Demerson
In 1939, Velma Demerson was just 18 years old, when a love story with her Chinese boyfriend Harry Yip turned tragic. Her father, outraged that she would marry a Chinese man, had her arrested and put ...
vimeo.com
🧵Torture at the Ontario Training School for Girls: a 12-year-old brutally abused for 92 days—then incarcerated in the Mercer Reformatory. Two snippets from the Toronto Star. 👇1/2
