January 21/16

Chapter1: Introduction

Census data:

2006

2011

19.8%

20.6%

Canada
Foreign-born
Ethno-racial minorities

16.2%

19.1%

Toronto CMA
Foreign-born

45.6%

Ethno-racial minorities

42.9%

46%
47%

Immigrant urban destinations

Toronto CMA

37.4%

Montreal

12.5%

Vancouver

13.5%

Calgary

4.6%

Halifax

.5%

Immigration is global/transnational, national/provincial and local/municipal

Push factors
1.
2.
3.
4.

North-south/developed- less developed

Global labour market
Global business opportunities
War, internal displacement, persecution, human rights violations, failed
states
5. Climate change
Pull factors (Canada)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Developed economy
Employment and business opportunities
Democratic government/political stability
Rule of law/respect for human rights
Welfare state: health care, income assistance and education
Multiculturalism/diversity
Citizenship/transnationalism

Study of Canadian immigrant

1. History: immigrant and nation-building

Economy development
Social development
2. Process: immigrant law/policies
Admission: who and why
Settlement
Citizenship
3. Impact of immigration: Demographic
Economic
Cultural (values and beliefs)
Politics
4. Win-Win wealthy, multicultural nation promotes the well-being and
opportunities of both native-born and immigrants
OR
Win-struggle to succeed: immigration policy based on economic selfinterest
Immigrant fill labour market needs/start businesses and increase
consumption of goods and services.
Michael Lee Chin: entrepreneurial family, Canadian university education, career in
investment/financial management industry
Anderson family: low skilled, employees in garment industry
Key questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.

What drives immigration policy

Who benefits from it?
Impact on Canadian society
imagined future of Canada

2. 1497-1960s
Historical development of immigration policy: who is admitted and why?

Major periods of Canadian immigration

Different imagined futures (images of Canadas future)

Different social and economic goals

-

Fluctuations in immigration: challenge of attracting and retaining immigrants

History of ethno-centrism, racism and suspicion or fear of foreigners
Will they integrate/become more like us?

Colony>>>>>>Nation>>>>>>>Nation-building
Jan 27/16
Colony: 1) New France, 1497-1763
France developed New France (Quebec) as a based to exploit natural resources/fur
trade
-

Immigration to settle New France a secondary priority

Immigration and settlement was
1) a means of reinforcing claim to territory
2) a way to provide food and basic supplies needed to support the fur trade
French government policy:
1) Encourage emigration from France
2) Encourage large families; special allowances for families with
3) Fine for young man and woman who did not marry at an early age (more
than 10 children)

1700: Population of New France consisted of 12000 French immigrants plus 4100
slaves (1700 aboriginal and 2400 from Caribbean).
1763: Population of New France at the time of the defeat of French by the British,
70,000.
1763: End of era of French colonization and beginning of era of British colonization
(turning point)
1763 to 1867: Canada was a British colony
End of immigration from France (but French Canadian population increased from
70,000 to one million due to high birth rate (revenge of the cradle)
New imagined future/different social and economic goal
-

Immigration from Great Britain (English, Scottish, Irish ad Welch) to:

1) To support trade: furs and lumber
2) To reinforce claim to territory
3) To develop agriculture: grain for export to Great Britain
4) To create market for British manufactured goods
United States (13 colonies) revolt against British colonial rule: 1776-1783
United Empire Loyalists come to British North America (Canada) as refugees
46,000 settle in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario
treaties with First Nation: crown land for British/United Empire Loyalist
settlers

Export of English, Scottish and Irish poor

Famine in Ireland: 1847 Toronto with a population of 20,000 receives 38,000
famine refugees (1,100 die from disease)

1867 The provinces of Canada (Upper Canada/Ontario, Lower Canada/Quebec, New

Brunswick and Nova Scotia) with a population of 3.7million negotiate Canadas
independent from Great Britain.
-

Jan 28/16
1867 to 1930s era of the National Policy. New imagined future as an
independent country with close ties to Great Britain

Canada independent but fragile: need to join Eastern and Central Canada with
British Columbia
Two threats:
1) Economic: need to create east-west economic ties to counter north-south
economic relationship
2) Military: threat of US expansionism (manifest destiny)
Solution: economic and political integration: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec
and Ontario plus Prince Edward Island, British Columbia and the North-West
Territories (now Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta)
National Policy (Strategy of economic development) had three parts:
1) Railway construction to link Canada from sea to sea: economic but also
military necessity.
2) Tariffs: taxes on goods imported from the US. Help create and east-west
economy supplied by industries in Toronto, Hamilton, and Montreal
3) Immigration: producers and consumers, workers to build railways and work in
mines, lumber mills and industries plus farmers to transform the prairies into
farms.
Immigration essential for economic development but also to achieve goal of social
development: building a nation similar to the mother country, Great Britain
Canada: a nation of English-speaking, white, Christian people (preferably
Protestant). Immigrants with shared values and beliefs who could be easily
assimilated.
1869 Canada first immigration Act (legislation passed by Parliament to control and
regulate immigration).
Government immigration Policy: to attract and select
1.
2.
3.
4.

Farmers/agriculturalists
Skilled and unskilled workers
Female domestic servants
Children: Home children

Elaborate marketing/recruiting strategy:

-

Advertising and immigration agents (Great Britain and the US)

Steamship and railway companies
Assisted passage for British Immigrants (reduced/low fares)

Hierarchy of Preference:
1. British immigrants
2. Immigrants from the US
3. Immigrants from West and Northern Europe (Norway, Sweden, Denmark,
Netherlands, Belgium, Holland and Germany
4. Central and Eastern Europe (Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires)
Austrians, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Jews and Ukrainians
Excluded: everyone else from Asia, Africa and Central and South America (no
opportunity to come to Canada)
But Chinese immigrants: beginning in the 1858 gold rush
1880s 15,000 contract workers to construct the CPR line through British Columbia
Small number of Sikhs from India
Japanese immigrants: with very limited number, had deal with government
African Americans: United Empire Loyalists and underground railway

Selective Exclusion:
1) Chinese immigtants: 1885 introduction of the head tax of $50, $100 in 1900 and
$500 in 1903. Legislation prohibited Chinese immigration, 1923-1948.
2) South Africa immigrants: continuous journey regulation in 1910. Komagata Maru
1914
3) Japanese immigrants: agreement negotiated with Japanese government to
prevent emigration to Canada
4) African Americans: medical examinations
Imagined Future: White Christian, British-Western European Nation
Social development: assimilation of new Canadians/role of public schools
Economic development: individual responsibility for success and failure.
Those who failed- unable to support themselves or their families- deported
Fear of the corrupting influence of the foreigner Italians, Eastern Europeans and
Jews.
Fear became more intense during WW1, particularly after the Russian revolution:
foreigner identified with radical political ideas/revolution.

February 3, 2016
Internment/deportation
1920s Renewed emphasis on British
1930s Great Depression (1929-1939): door closed to immigrants, economy
crashed, and unemployment
1939-1945 Canada became a refuge for 5000 British children and mothers, 2000
Poles and Czechs and despite their desperate situation less than 5000 Jews. (St.
Louis-only ship to across 1939)
1945-1962 Post-WW2 Boom
War brides: 48,000 women and 22,000 children were brought home to Canada
4500 Polish veterans, leave Poland and came to Canada
But reluctance to allow immigration because of concerns about the economy
But by 1947 transition from war time to peace time economy under way labour
shortages led to immigration from Great Britain, Netherlands and France
Displaced Persons
1948 Repeal of Chinese Immigration Act (spouses and children)
Italian and Germans no longer enemy aliens
1952 (new law) First Immigration Act since 1910
But emphasis on country of origin. Excluded immigrants with peculiar customs,
habits. Modes of life which meant that they were unable to become readily
assimilated
Focus on Great Britain and Western Europe
1956 Door opened to immigrants from Italy, Portugal and Greece (exclude Asia)
Plus, 150 from India, 100 from Pakistan, and 50 from Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
1962 End of 95 years of exclusion/racism (Finally opened door to Asian-many came
from Republic of China, all over the world)