Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Charlotte County Inc. were an agency which aimed to match children from single parent families with adult volunteers who would spend time with them, with the aim of giving children who were potentially facing difficulties in their lives an adult role model. This agency was granted a provisional licence by the national non-profit organization Big Brothers of Canada in November 1986 and formally began operations in April 1987, with its first two matches between adults and children being made in October 1987.
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Charlotte County Inc. was one of many agencies in Canada at that time which had the name Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The origins of this movement can be traced to New York in 1904. The founder of this movement was a New York court clerk named Ernest Coulter, who had noticed an increase of young boys inside his courtroom. He felt that if boys in New York had more caring adults in their lives they would be more likely to stay out of trouble, so he sought out volunteers among his friends who could spend time lending a hand to these boys. He started with 39 volunteers, who formed the beginning of the Big Brother movement. This movement was officially instituted in 1908, and by 1916 had spread to 96 cities across the United States. A similar Big Sister movement was founded in the United States around this time as well by socially prominent women who were concerned for the welfare of girls.
This movement would soon spread to Canada, beginning in Toronto during 1912-1913. There, the newly appointed first Commissioner of the Toronto Juvenile Courts Reverend L.L. Starr became similarly concerned about the young boys and girls who had been appearing in his court. Having heard of the success of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters movements in the United States, he felt something similar could work in Toronto. A Big Sisters organization was formed in Toronto in September 1912 after Reverend L.L. Starr reached out to the Local Council of Women with his suggestion. This Big Sisters organization initially acted as an extension of the Local Council of Women, but became independent in February 1916. Similarly, a Big Brothers movement began in Toronto in June 1913. This separate group was formed by Eleanor Adams Hunter, who worked in Toronto’s court system. She had similar feelings about the number of young boys in the court system, and had also heard of the success of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters in the United States. She founded a Big Brothers movement in Toronto and acted as their general secretary. This group would be formally organized in September 1913.
The way these two Toronto groups functioned at this time involved having a juvenile court judge release a young person convicted of a minor crime into the care of a volunteer belonging to either the Big Brothers or Big Sisters, both of which initially acted as separate entities. In the following years many other Big Brothers/Big Sisters groups would form in Canada. The Big Brothers of Canada, who had granted Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Charlotte County Inc. their provisional licence, are American in origin. This group was formed during 1963-1964, when a group of Big Brothers associations in Ontario who were governed by the American Big Brothers met in Hamilton to plan a national body. They decided to apply for a national charter under the name “Big Brothers of Canada (BBC)” and act as a non-profit organization. Their charter was signed in December 1964 by the Canadian Secretary of State, formally incorporating them.
In December 1972 Big Brothers of Canada separated from the American Big Brothers group and began to self-govern. Within four years of this split it had begun to spread across Canada, with 110 agencies in total in 1976. By 1986, this group would also spread to Charlotte County through Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Charlotte County Inc. The current Big Brothers/Big Sisters agency of Canada was created in 2001 when three separate groups (Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada, Big Sisters of Canada, and Big Sisters Association of Ontario) merged. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Charlotte County currently operates today, and is affiliated with the Saint John branch of this organization.