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Immigration
On may 1, 1947 the Mackenzie King
government issued the guidelines for it's new
immigration policy. The economy was booming and new
workers were needed to meet the demands of expansion of
industry and growth across the country. The new
policy was directed towards immigrants who could be
easily assimilated in either the French or English
communities across the country. This meant that the
melting pot theory of immigration would be expected to
absorb these new arrivals into mainstream Canada and
that the fundamental makeup of the country would remain
relatively unchanged.
The main source of the new immigrants was
targeted as U.S., British, and North-western Europeans.
These immigrants would not upset the balance across
Canada and were actively recruited. One of the main
groups to be accepted were the Dutch who were faced with
overcrowding in the Netherlands, and with the loss of so
much farmland during the later stages of World War II,
they also faced food shortages. The Government through
an imitative known as the Netherland Farm Families
Movement. Germans were welcome due to the Canadian
populations view of them as being ethnically similar to
the rest of Canada, as well as many British wives of
soldiers who had served overseas.
Immigration applicants originating for
the Mediterranean area were discourage and usually
rejected as were Asian applicants. It took another year
for French applicants to be accepted as desired
immigrants and even then they were required to be able
to prove that they were able to support themselves until
they found employment.
Another aspect
of the screening process had to do with political
affiliation. Anyone suspected of being a communist or
harbouring any support for communism were rejected as
unsuitable for entry into Canada. Health screening would
also reject those with health issues or handicaps.
although a wave of
immigration was encouraged as a part of the post war
boom and growth in the Canadian community, the
immigration was racist and selective. At that time, this
was not viewed as a negative but as a mechanism for
maintain traditional social characteristic. Most
Canadians supported these policies.
1947 also saw the
passage of the Citizenship Act which was the creation of
Canadian citizenship and passports to replace the
British subject status which had been the rule until
then.
The other issue that
was effecting European recovery and stability was that
of Displaced persons. DP's were the millions of people
who after World War II found themselves in foreign
countries with no way or desire to return to their
homeland. A large number of these people were Jewish,
ex-Nazis former soldiers in the allied armies that did
not want to return to a communist controlled, Soviet
managed country in eastern Europe or those who had
nowhere to return to. On July 23, 1946 an Order in
Council was passed in Canada to make provisions for
displace persons. The first immigrants accepted to
Canada under this provision were 4000 former Polish
soldiers who had fought with the English and Canadian
troops on the western front.
Over the next 7 years
Canada accepted thousands of DP's who built new lives
across the country.
|
Year |
DP's arriving in
Canada |
|
1947-48 |
14,250 |
|
1948-49 |
50,610 |
|
1949-50 |
33,197 |
|
1950-51 |
24,911 |
|
1951-52 |
41,016 |
|
1952-53 |
1,713 |
|
