Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Canada

Big Brothers Big Sisters is a charitable organization which matches adult volunteers to children needing adult mentoring. Founded over 80 years ago, there are over 170 agencies across Canada providing support to over 300 communities. As well as a traditional program, where one adult is matched with one same-sex child, new programs include Couples for Kids, Cross-Gender Matching, Internet Mentoring, and Life Skills Programs.

Big Brothers and Big Sisters are volunteers who mentor children, ages 6 through 18.

The movement began in 1904, when a young New York City court clerk named Ernest Coulter was seeing more and more boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these kids stay out of trouble, and he set out to find volunteers. That marked the beginning of the Big Brothers movement. By 1916, Big Brothers had spread to 96 cities across the United States.

At around the same time, the members of a group called Ladies of Charity were befriending girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. That group later became Catholic Big Sisters.

In 1912, similar events took place in Canada and the first Canadian Big Sister agency formed in Toronto. Closely afterwards, in 1913, the first Canadian Big Brother program began in Toronto.

Both groups continued to work independently until 1977, when Big Brothers of America and Big Sisters International (in America) joined forces and became Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. In 2001 a similar merger occurred between the two Canadian organizations and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada was formed. Interest grew from outside North America, spurring the formation of Big Brothers Big Sisters International to help other countries get started and facilitate communications between countries running similar programs.

Big Brothers Big Sisters operates in all 50 U.S. states, in 10 Canadian Provinces and one territory, and in 35 countries.