I have pondered at length about our forefathers, were they naturally cruel through upbringing, naturally uncaring, oblivious to others anguish and pain etc etc. This was not just Canada it was the attitudes generally I think. God knows there must have been little mercy, light or sympathy in their souls, as Pete says to do this to children beggars belief, but it was common everywhere, girls put in asylums for getting pregnant, their babies taken from them etc etc. We often fondly remember them as being hardy folk, but there was a darker side to them that was hidden in history on lots of things. Have we improved? I'd say partly, but only in certain countries, slavery is still rampant, abuse of children in all manners still there, corruption and crime rampant throughout the world etc etc
Has it ever occurred to you if you have worked for criminals?, I'll bet you have at some point albeit unknowingly, their huge sums of laundered money go somewhere, and mainly into purchasing legitimate companies. Eventually they will control governments, countries and every ones lives, no different to the old pirates and slave traders who invested in land and factories and became rich, hence respectable.