How immigration laws are different
today than the past. Policy
No one today is excluded from Canada because of their - Canada signed the U.N. Convention Relating to the status of
race or origin. The point system, for example, evaluates the Refugees in 1951
people based on their skill and education. In the past, - During the 1950s and 1960s, Canada offered to shelter
Canada favoured immigrants of British ancestry and refugees in response to specific world crises.
restricted immigration from Asian countries, such as - In 1976, Canada made refugees one of its
China and India. immigration categories. The change meant that Canada
accepted refugees steadily, instead of crisis by crisis.
race or origin. The point system, for example, evaluates the Refugees in 1951
people based on their skill and education. In the past, - During the 1950s and 1960s, Canada offered to shelter
Canada favoured immigrants of British ancestry and refugees in response to specific world crises.
restricted immigration from Asian countries, such as - In 1976, Canada made refugees one of its
China and India. immigration categories. The change meant that Canada
accepted refugees steadily, instead of crisis by crisis.
When did most come? Why?
Most immigrants came to Canada in 1871- 1885 to build the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in British Columbia. The government needed a source of cheap labour to do most of the dangerous jobs in building the railways, such as carrying heavy rocks, tunneling, or working with explosives. Many Chinese immigrants' hoped that the job would help them escape from crushing levels of poverty in China. They had poor living conditions and earned one dollar a day -- two-thirds of the wage a white man earned. Approximately four Chinese died for every mile of the CPR. When the CPR was completed in 1885, the government was fearful that cheap Chinese labour would take jobs away from whites and push down wages. The federal government then wanted to put a limit on the amount of Chinese population in Canada. Passed in 1885 was the first anti-Chinese policy it took the form of a $50 head tax imposed on every Chinese person entering Canada. This act was meant to reduce the number of Chinese entering Canada, as it was belied they wouldn't adapt to Canada's then burgeoning agricultural society.
The Early Years, 1870,1897Encouraging British and European immigrants to settle on the prairies was part of Prime Minister Sir John A. McDonald's plan to establish Canadian settlement on the newly-acquired North-West Territories. Stretching from Ontario's border to British Columbia,which was still a British colony, the Territories were transferred to Canada by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869. Settlement was an urgent matter, and so was a railway to carry settlers west. There was already talk in the mid-western United States of expanding north of the border. Sir John's promise of a trans-Canada railway persuaded British Columbia to enter Confederation in 1871.
The Canadian Pacific Railway, so necessary to opening up the Territories to large-scale settlement, was a massive project that took many years to finance. Surveying prairie land for railway-building and white settlement signaled displacement to Native people and Metis, and an end to their traditional way of life. 1885, the year the CPR was completed, was also the year of the second Metis uprising, and the execution of its leader, Louis Riel. |
Immigrant Head Taxes1885- head tax was $50
1850-Mass Chinese immigration 1900- $100 1903-increased head tax to $500 1923-Chinese exclusion act effect till - 1947 |
Advertising in Britain, 1900-1916
Clifford Sifton, Laurier's first Minister of the Interior, was fully aware that Britain could not supply huge numbers of agricultural immigrants. By 1900 Britain was an increasingly industrialized and urban society.The kind of hardy agricultural workers likely to succeed in the Canadian west were only to be found in Scotland, the north of England and, to a lesser degree, the western counties and Wales. But advertising in the over-populated "mother country" was a political necessity. The British government wanted to relieve population pressures at home. Sifton reorganized the existing network of Canadian agents in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Headquarters in London reported directly to the Minister. The immediate task was to make Canada better known throughout Britain, and a great opportunity arose in 1902, when King Edward VII came to the throne.
Advertising in the United States, 1990s-1920s |
Advertising in Europe, 1900-1920s Due to European laws, it difficult or impossible for foreign government agents to advertise in many countries. Canada had two resident agents in Europe, based in Belgium and France, but even there they had to proceed discreetly. So Canadian officials resorted to contracting European steamship ticket agents to promote Canada, and paying a bonus on each agricultural immigrant sent from certain countries. The Laurier government turned a blind eye to the circumvention of European laws by their officials - as long as it created no problems.
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Clifford Sifton, Canada's dynamic Minister of the Interior, 1896-1905, regarded mid-western American farmers as ideal settlers, particularly those of north-west European background who brought capital and equipment with them. With first-hand experience of prairie farming in the United States, these were the most likely people to succeed in western Canada. They spoke the same language as Canadian westerners, and shared many common values. And the time was right to promote western Canada as The Last Best West. American farmers found it increasingly difficult to acquire tracts of good, cheap land for their sons to farm.
By 1900 Sifton had established agents in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin. Soon Montana and Washington were added to the list, and more agents hired. Agents received a commission for every man, woman and child who actually settled in western Canada. Between 1900-1910, close to half a million Americans were reported to have left for Canada. However, numbers of these "Americans" were probably returning Canadians.
By 1900 Sifton had established agents in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Wisconsin. Soon Montana and Washington were added to the list, and more agents hired. Agents received a commission for every man, woman and child who actually settled in western Canada. Between 1900-1910, close to half a million Americans were reported to have left for Canada. However, numbers of these "Americans" were probably returning Canadians.
Advertising in Britian, 1920sAfter the First World War ended in 1918, the Canadian government had high hopes that the newly-created Department of Immigration and Colonization would attract large numbers of British agricultural immigrants. And large numbers did arrive, despite the fact that the only free government land still available was in areas remote from railways.
There were new incentives, however, for farmers to emigrate from over-populated Britain. The British government offered subsidized travel to many parts of the Empire, including Canada. Plenty of good arable land was still for sale in the Canadian west, much of it owned by the two national railways, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the newly-formed Canadian National Railways. Both national companies advertised extensively in Britain, and offered their own inducements to would-be settlers. While the Canadian government supported the railways' initiatives, attracting immigrants to the prairies was no longer the only priority. Agricultural immigrants were needed in every part of Canada. |