IMMIGRATION TIMELINE:

1867 - PRESENT

• 1867: BNA ACT

• → Canada is Created• → Attempts are made to populate the country

• → Immigrants mainly come from British Isles

1878: National Policy

• → Attempts are made to settle western Canada

• → Target not just people from British Isles, but Northern Europeans

1870s &1880s: Asian Immigration• → Immigrants from China, Italy, and Japan

came to work on railway• → A “Head Tax” forced them to pay in

order to enter the country

1900-1913: Pre-WWI• → Huge boom in immigration• → Clifford Sifton is Minister in charge• → Increase in population of Western

Canada (1905: Sask & Alberta created)• → Jewish/Italian/Greeks

arrive in urban areas

The immigration laws during the late 19th and early 20th centuries were discriminatory towards certain groups:

• Poor Immigrants• Those considered mentally incompetent• Non-Europeans (i.e. non-Whites)

1914-1918: WWI

• → Pause in immigration • → During war discrimination towards

Canadians of Germans, Austrians, Turkish origin

• → Immigration picks up in 1920s when people come from Germany, Russia, Ukraine

1929-1945: Great Depression & WW2

• → Pause in immigration• → Jews and other persecuted groups are

not admitted to Canada • → Canadians of German,

Italian, and Japanese origins are placed in internment camps

Internment Camps• After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in

1942, the government passed an Order in Council authorizing the removal of "enemy aliens" within a 100-mile radius of the BC coast.

• On March 4, 1942 22,000 Japanese Canadians were given 24 hours to pack before being interned. They were first incarcerated in a temporary facility at Hastings Park Race Track in Vancouver.

• Women, children and older people were sent to internment camps in the Interior.

• Men who complained about separation from their families or violated the curfew were sent to the "prisoner of war" camps in Ontario.

• The property of the Japanese Canadians - land, businesses, and other assets - were confiscated by the government and sold, and the proceeds used to pay for their internment.

1945+: Post-WW2• → Great increase in immigration• → More diversity in immigrant groups but

they are still coming from Europe (Italians, Greeks, Portuguese, Dutch, Poland, USSR)

• → Baby Boom! (people starting families)

Immigration Act of 1952

• → Still prioritized “White” immigration i.e. people from European countries

• → Individuals who suffered from mental illness, had a disability (deaf, blind, etc.), a sickness, alcoholics, prostitutes, homosexuals and others are barred from coming to Canada.

1971: Multiculturalism• → Multiculturalism becomes an official

policy of the Canadian government • → Multiculturalism promotes the equality

of different cultural groups

1976: Immigration Act

• → This act reflected multicultural principles and corrected some of the past

discriminatory policies• → The act opened the door to immigrants

from all corners of the world (Asia, Africa, Latin America, and more...)

• → People would now be selected based on education, job skills, age, language, and other criteria

1976: Immigration Act (cont’d)• → Top 5 Countries for immigrants in the 90s?

Hong Kong, China, India, Philippines, Sri Lanka• → Mostly settle in large cities (Toronto,

Vancouver, Montreal)• → Refugees are accepted (people that are

escaping problems in their home country)Ex: Vietnamese “Boat People”

1991: Canada-Quebec Agreement

• → Quebec is given sole responsibility in selecting immigrants to the province

• → Priority is given to French-speaking regions of the world