Pages Through Ages

Did you know the Page Program unofficially started in 1834? 

That's a super long time ago!

Back then, the Pages were actually called Messengers and they brought all of the MPPs sandwiches and ran errands for them. These messengers were boys between the ages of 10 and 14. Most of these messengers came from poor Toronto families so the wages that they earned would have been a BIG HELP to their families. 

There have been official Pages at Queen's Park since the current Legislative Building opened in 1893 and that's when the program really began to be official and get better for the Pages. 

In  1946, one of the MPPs fought for the Pages because they were staying in a little, dark basement room. 

They hired a tutor for them in 1952 who taught them math and helped them learn about Legislative process. 

In the 1960's, the Speaker decided that it was finally time to really do something about their working conditions so they moved the Page quarters up out of a basement into the main building.  This Speaker's name was Mr. Cass and he really helped make the Page Program better. He even opened up the program to kids from outside the Toronto area and made the Program available to kids across Ontario. 

In the 1970's, they FINALLY allowed GIRLS to become Pages. They even paid the girl Pages the SAME amount of money to work as Pages as they paid the boys, and the girls did the exact same work and wore the exact same uniforms! Talk about equality! 

There was one year (1980) when the entire group of Pages that was serving was ALL GIRLS! Talk about GIRL POWER! This was because the applications form girls WAY outnumbered applications from boys 131 to 62! Now they try to bring an equal number of boys and girls to the program. 

QUICK FUN TIP: In a summer session in 1992, not a lot of Pages were available. One of the MPPs complained that the MPPs could not get along without Pages. 

BONUS QUICK FUN TIP: A World War I Veteran who was unable to find work became a Page. He was pretty small so none of the MPPs noticed that he was an adult!

One of the great pieces of Page history is that a 13 year old girl named Roisin Hartnett was the first blind Page in the Legislative Assembly. She went to Queen's Park with her guide dog, Penny. She thought that being blind might lessen her chances of being a Page but she applied anyway and was really excited to be accepted.  I like this story and hope that Roisin became a good example for kids with disabilities that you can do whatever you put your mind to! 

One thing that hasn't changed over the years in the Page program is that it is full of  kids who want to be involved in the political process, learn new things, meet other kids with similar interests and have high academic marks. 

---PeyThePEYge