"Cruel Injustice": Infanticide and Compassion in Upper Canada, 1791–1831.

This article examines the role of compassion in two well-documented infanticide cases in Upper Canada between 1791 and 1831, focusing on Angelique Pilotte, an Indigenous woman, and Mary Thompson, a settler woman. It explores how compassion functioned as a form of power within colonial legal and social frameworks, shaped by race, gender, and class, rather than as purely benevolent sentiment. The article situates these cases within the context of the 1624 English statute criminalizing the concealment of bastard children, its application in Upper Canada, and the 1831 legal reforms that reclassified infanticide as homicide. Through archival analysis, it highlights how colonial elites used compassion to reinforce social hierarchies and colonial authority, while the experiences and perspectives of the accused women remain largely absent from the record.