Immigration to Canada

Movement of people from their home countries to settle elsewhere is an essential part of Canada's history. In this country, immigration has never been a factor of orderly population growth. She has served and continues to serve as a catalyst for economic progress, as well as reflecting Canadian attitudes and values. It has also been subjected, without any qualms, to the country's own economic interests and often to outrageously discriminatory policies on ethnic and racial grounds.

Loyalist immigration

The new British rulers, who would have liked the colony to remain a quiet appendage to the Empire, soon found themselves obliged to accept several thousand English-speaking settlers, most of whom were Protestants, following the American War of Independence. Known as the Loyalists of the United Empire, they are largely political refugees .

They are heading north not by choice, but by obligation, either that they do not wish to become citizens of the new American republic, or that they fear reprisals for publicly supporting the British. For these Loyalists, who will form the nucleus of the ruling class of the colony, Canada is a country of second choice. It will be the same for countless people who will immigrate thereafter because they have been forced to leave their homeland and access to other countries (often the United States) is limited.

Loyalist immigration is not done without supervision or support. The rulers and soldiers of the British Empire provide them with property and distribute land to them. The hardships that settlers face are softened by state intervention, a practice that will become common in Canada.

The great migration to the West

As the country's agricultural vocation is partly defined by farming, Canada faces difficulties when arable land is scarce. After Confederation , the country does not yet have a real industrial base, the mortality rate is relatively low, the birth rate is high, and immigration is small but continuous, especially in the British Isles, so that overpopulation arise. The United States, which seems to have an unlimited reserve of free arable land, attracts thousands of new immigrants and English Canadians, while many French Canadians go to work in factories in New England

Towards the end of the 19th century, the territories that are now part of the Prairies open to colonization. However, it is only after the discovery of a market for the agricultural production of this region that the settlement really starts there. The demand for agricultural products, particularly durum wheat, coincides with the election of the Wilfrid Laurier government , which immediately promotes the development of the West by encouraging massive immigration. Clifford Sifton , new Minister of the Interior and energetic man, is developing a new program of great significance. He accepts, albeit with little enthusiasm, to welcome farmers who do not come from the British Isles, northern Europe or the United States, and explains his position: 

"A vigorous peasant dressed in a skin coat of sheep, born on a farm and whose ancestors have been farmers for ten generations, and a valiant woman who gave him many children are good settlers ".

Nevertheless, Sifton's words, repeatedly reiterated, do not exactly reflect the policy of the government. From 1896 until the 1930s, Canadians, their political representatives and immigration officials were not eager to welcome "peasants dressed in sheep's cloaks". Immigration policy is not just about populating the Prairies quickly, it's part of the structure of the British Empire that Sifton and the Canadian government believe, like most English-speaking Canadians.

The traditional definition of the ideal immigrant could be changed, but not radically transformed. Resolutely colonialist, the government describes non-native immigrants from the British Isles as foreigners. Resolutely North American, it excludes English-speaking white immigrants from the United States from this category. The ideal immigrant is therefore a British or American farmer with financial resources who wants to settle in the West. Sifton and the government are probably just following the spirit of the day, but Canadian immigration policy and public opinion are nonetheless racist .

Businessmen and railroad officials, predicting unlimited global demand for Canadian resources, urge Sifton and immigration authorities to increase the number of immigrants. Seeking a compromise between the fears related to the racial question and the urgent need for farmers, we draw up a list of immigrants in order of preference: British, Americans, French, Belgians , Dutch , Scandinavians, Swiss , Finns , Russians , Austrians Hungarians, Germans , Ukrainians and Poles . Then come those who, according to the government and the general population, are less assimilable, less well-regarded: Italians , South Slavs, Greeks and Syrians 

In addition, the federal government does not have a monopoly on immigration. The British North America Act also gives provinces the power to make decisions if they choose to manage the sector. Because of the growing population of English Canada, as well as to curb, if not reverse, young rural Quebeckers who are looking for jobs in New England manufacturing, Quebec is setting up its own system. immigration. In collaboration with the federal authorities, immigration officers are sent to New England to encourage French Canadians to return home to work on marginal lands newly open to agriculture . This program has had mixed success, but Quebec continues to define its own immigration priorities .

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