Immigration and Western Expansion

The nationalistic plan to create a generation of new Canadians merged with the need to exploit the agricultural potential of the prairies. Modest immigration occurred in the post-Confederation erafor example, about 15,000 Chinese arrived to work on the Canadian Pacific Railwayyet a grand migration eluded the National Policys proponents. Several factors combined to facilitate the fantastic influx that increased Canadas population in the early twentieth century. Recovery from an international depression in the late 1890s, the expansion of railroads and steamship lines, and improvements in farm machinery and crop strains made Canada an attractive destination for immigrants. Events outside the country also shaped the movement of peoples. Political, religious, and economic pressures, particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe, induced millions to leave their homelands. Canada capitalized on the dramatic announcement in the United States that its frontier was essentially closed for further settlement. Finally, populating the West became a priority of Lauriers government. Clifford Sifton, the interior minister, accepted the main responsibility for the endeavor. Aggressive advertising in Europe and the United States, touting the prairies as the last best West, fancifully portrayed Canada as a flawless land of opportunity. As Sifton famously observed, he wanted hardy European peasants in sheepskin coats so that they would be prepared to endure the rigors of life on the land (see Siftons Rationale for Immigration in the Documents section). From 1896 to 1914 more than one million immigrants came to Canadas West. At the same time, Canadians migrated to the United States in large numbers, including tens of thousands of Quebecers

who moved to New England in search of employment. Although many settled in cities, the bulk of the migrants from Europe and the United States rode the newly constructed rails to theWest. Immigrants came from Britain, seeking economic opportunity while still secure in the empires fold. Scandinavians, Germans, Russians, and Eastern Europeans arrived. All left indelible imprints of their culture, language, and architecture. Ukrainians, for example, constructed bloc settlements and Orthodox Catholic churches with distinctive onion-domed spires. Religious groups included European Mennonites, American Mormons, and the fiercely independent Russian Doukhobors. As a reflection of population growth, the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta entered the dominion in 1905. Echoing Manitobas saga, a controversy over the nature of education and control of resources and public lands engendered bitter feelings. Nonetheless, by the eve of World War I, the Canadian prairies had become home to a tremendous variety of immigrants and two new provinces. On many levels, this government-assisted migration was a phenomenal success. Immigrants provided muscle for industry and agriculture. They raised families, built communities, worshiped the religions of their forebears, established newspapers in their native languages, and attempted to keep elements of their culture intact. Over time, they also adopted and helped to fashion a Canadian outlook. This mosaic of peoples would later become one of the celebrated features of Canadian identity. Yet many Canadians viewed the rapid influx of non-English speaking peoples as a threat; they

preferred Protestant immigrants from Northern and Western Europe. Nativist organizations, opposed to foreign influences, emerged in the late nineteenth century. The government instituted a head tax in 1885 to curtail Chinese immigrants. With the advent of a new minister of the interior in 1905, the government introduced more restrictive policies toward immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe and limited the rights of Native peoples. In 1907 a riot broke out in Vancouver between Asiatic Exclusion League members and Japanese and Chinese residents. Concerned Canadians increasingly counted on strict laws to block certain immigrants and the educational system to play a key role in assimilation.