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European Immigration to Canada in the 1900s Notes

- As the world shifted away from the Cold War era, Canada aimed to increase their immigration

numbers, but they remained weary of allowing potential communists into the country, these fears

were rooted in the government whom feared Eastern European immigrants may pose a threat to

national security

- Gatekeepers envisioned that the ideal citizen would be one rid of corrupt moral ideas, and

would be someone who would rather spend time wedded to their family and job than one focused

on politics

- Some political scientists posed the question, is Canada a genuine democracy with a humane

form of capitalism? Or did it need to get its house in order before demanding adaptation to

Canadian values and standards?

- What could newcomers expect of Canadians and what could Canadians expect of newcomers?

The division between the two groups sparked debates among political scientists, who believed

that Canada was not a true democracy because of the deep rooted fear of accepting immigrants

- Modern citizenship has its roots in at least two opposing principles: liberalism individualism

and the state’s responsibility to ensure those values

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- After the second world war, Britain and Canada adopted an expansive welfare system to lessen

the gap of inequality between the rich and poor, which hurt their respective economies’ in the

short term but brought financial return in the coming decades

- Many European immigrants in the 1900s that went to Canada had a false impression that there

were not any housing shortages, high living costs, unemployment problems, and language

barriers

- Immigration officials believed that the newcomers, despite being white westerners from

democratically run countries, would struggle to adapt to the pace of life in Canada

- The Canadian gatekeepers developed different programs in order to help newcomers adjust to

life in Canada, and above of all else find adequate housing and social services

- Canadian gatekeepers were seen as indispensable problem solvers who dealt with problems

ranging from the lack of welfare services as well as trying to change the stigma Canadians had

towards immigrants

- Accepting immigrants and the modern welfare system were introduced to bring about a return

to normalcy after the wartime, and more so to be a platform to phase the countries into the next

stage of the century

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- Working class Canadians’ reception to these changes did not come without its criticism, they

believed that the culturally insensitive method of immigration served as protection for centuries

from outside threats and that the government weakening their stance on immigration would put

millions out of jobs

- Additionally, they believed that the welfare system gave an unfair advantage to newcomers,

who they believed would ride off the benefits that the system provided, and would not contribute

or try to help grow the economy

- The Canadian government used catchwords such as “cultural mosaic” and “unity in diversity”

as a way to try and alter the negative stigma the population had towards newcomers, but more

importantly to slowly shift the political landscape towards one that would be more accepting of

multiculturalism in the land