The Impacts of Changing Immigration Patterns of the Post-War Period

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Immigration has gone through many different stages of change just as the nation of Canada had many stages of change. Transformations of immigration during the post-war period greatly impacted the society and immigration patterns of today. These changes included the post-war immigration boom, a less segregating Immigration Act and the rise of multicultural and refugee immigration. Post-war immigration patterns have differed from previous waves of immigration due to their size and source of immigration resulting in a grand change in the ‘face’ of Canada.
During the post-war period, Canada benefited from a boom of immigrants. After the war, 1.5 million immigrants flocked to Canada consisting mainly of European immigrants (). These immigrants consisted of war brides (about 48 000 immigrants []), skilled trades’ workers and Displaced Persons (DPs). These immigrants came to Canada as a direct result of the World War II. War brides are women who married soldiers during while Canadian soldiers whilst overseas and had returned with their spouses. Skilled trades’ workers were Europeans consisting mainly of UK residents who immigrated to Canada to search for work as their factories had been burned down. DPs are people who had been displaced over the course of the war like Jews and Former Nazi Soldiers who have no desire to return to their home country. From 1947 to 1962, almost 250, 000 displaced persons and refugees were admitted to Canada. “To its credit, Canada decided to admit displaced person even before the international community …” (Knowles, 68). However, the most important arrival of these was most likely the skilled trades’ workers who allowed Canada to emerge as an urban industrial power. However, to do so infrastructure needed t...

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...migration patterns exhibited growth through the reduction of racial and ethnic barriers. As a result of these changes, Canada looks and feels much different today in comparison to prior the Second World War. This was mainly thanks to the Immigration Act which allowed for opportunities for many different groups of immigrants rather than just Europeans. Changes to the Act allowed the induction of the Point System that allowed for previously discouraged racial groups to immigrate to Canada and contribute to the economy and the society. Changes in immigration patterns have changed the “face” of Canada from European (UK) dominated country to a multicultural and diverse country. This also allowed more ethnic groups to immigrate to Canada and help create the urban industrial power we know today.

Works Cited

http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/specifique/immigration_e.html#1967

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