As the west was developing, the number of immigrants migrating to Canada increased. Some hoped that they would have a new start; where some may have expected a better life than they had prior to Canada. Yet, it did not go as expectedly for most of them. The reality of farming for new settlers, different experiences that were brought upon minority racial groups, and the harsh treatment of immigrants after settling not only illustrates but exposes the unique change that was brought amongst settlers and immigrants.
Farming in the west for new settlers was difficult since it required patience, capital, and then the full workforce employment by the family; simply known as homestead. Homesteading was a process of settling on a provided 160 acre of land under the Dominion Lands Act of 1872 for free, except the registration free that was $10. Settling and then starting farming on new land require patience because cultivation would not grow quick as it is an obvious factor and needed a lot of physical effort. In addition, to have the free land that you were given, they had to farm in a specific area and build a house within three years (Nickel, Lecture 4). Machineries and other farming goods were either not available or had a high cost where most of the work was done physically. Barbara Alice Slater was an English woman who experienced the difficulty in homesteading with her husband. Life was difficult for her since she not only had to cultivate but to meet new neighbors, build a house and then raise her children (Dryden & Myers, 1987). Incorporating from the article, “Despite the dawn-to-dark round of work, she understood that the success of the homestead required this effort on the part of both husband and wife” (Dryden & Myers, P. 17)...
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...arnholden on: the lessons of the Anti-Asiatic Riot: in 1907, an anti-immigration rally explodes into violence and vandalism in Vancouver's Chinatown and Japantown.(Explorations). The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History, 87 Issue 4, 14-15.
Cheverie, L. (n.d.). The National Policy and John A. Macdonald: Chapter 9. Retrieved January 30, 2014, from http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/amacleod5/ch_files/The%20National%20Policy%20leah.ppt.
Dryden, J., & Myres, S. (1987). Homesteading on Canadian Prairies: The Letters of Barbara Alice Slater, 1909-1918. JSTOR. Retrieved January 31, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4519028
Ferguson, W. (2005). Canadian history for dummies (2nd ed.). Mississauga, Ont.: J. Wiley & Sons Canada.
Sarah Nickel (Lecture 4)
Roy, P. (1976). Preservation of peace in Vancouver: the aftermath of the Anti-Chinese riot of 1887.. Vancouver: BC Studies.
Upper Canada was in the tumultuous process of settlement during the nineteenth century. From 1800-1860, wheat and flour exports went from a negligible amount to peak at 13 billion bushels in 1860.1 It is important to understand the rapid nature of settlement to contextualize life in rural Upper Canada. From 1805-1840, the population increased by over eight hundred percent.2 Many of these were Irish emigrants, even in the period preceding the famine; these pre-Famine Irish emigrants were predominantly “middling farmers,” «c'est à dire des fermiers cultivant des terres petites ou moyennes, ceux qui ont été le plus durement touchés par la baisse soudaine des prix des produits agricoles à la fin des guerres napoléoniennes [en Europe]».3 Many of the emigrants settled into townships and villages on the agricultural frontier, such as the Biddul...
Chong, M. R. (2002). Canadian History Since WWI. Retrieved May 19, 2014, from Markville: http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/history/history/fivecent.html
To begin Sprague argues that the Canadian Government disingenuously mismanaged Metis land organization. Sprague states that evidence of this can be seen in the Canadian government not allowing the Lieutenant Governor Adams G. Archibald to make changes to Section 31 and 32 of the Manitoba Act. Archibald proposed the government grant outlined in Section 31 should allocate each person of Aboriginal ancestry an allotment of “140 acres” (pg.75) of land. Archibald also suggested that the location of these allotments be in close proximity so as to “not disperse families throughout the province” (Pg. 75). Lastly Archibald proposed a suggestion in carrying out Section 32 which insured that land owned was not jeopardized during the process of confederacy. He recommended that Manitoba be recognized as an independent province such that affairs including land ownership would be dealt with on a provincial level. Therefore as Sprague argues Archibald’s words were not taken into consideration by both the governments of John A. Macdonald and Alexa...
Imagine living alone at 16, thousands of miles from your only family, no friends, and trying to gain land of your own. Hattie Brooks did just that, she was always known as Hattie Here-and-There because her parents died when she was young and she was shipped from relative to relative. She was bound to change that. She wanted something of her own, she wanted a home. So, in 1918 after receiving a letter leaving a homestead claim to her from a long lost uncle Chester she packed up all she owned and moved to Montana. She quickly found out how difficult and demanding farm life was. In order to own the land officially she had to prove up which included having to set 480 rods of fence, cultivate one eighth of land, and pay thirty-seven seventy-five
The period of 1914 to 1939, Canada’s immigration policy got very unfair. Changes were made to the Immigration Act in 1914 that allowed the rejection of anyone from any race that was deemed unsuitable for Canada’s requirements. Also, in that same year, the Komagata Maru came to the coast of Vancouver. It was a ship that carried many from Punjab, India. The ship wasn’t allowed to dock and passengers weren’t allowed to disembark off the ship. The ship hadn’t sailed directly to B.C. from India so only 24 passengers were allowed to disembark; most of them were doctors or Canadian citizens already. Another act to keep out unwanted immigrants from Canada was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. This act came into effect on July 1st, 1923. It banned all Chinese immigrants from entering Canada, except merchants, diplomats and foreign students. Before the Chinese Exclusion Act was put into place, the Chinese had to pay a head tax of $500 just to get into the country. The numbers of Japanese immigrants were also restricted. The Canadian government restricted only 150 Japanese immigrants to come to Canada in a year. In 1925, the government relaxed restrictions on immigrants coming from many countrie...
Labour leaders in Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s were strongly opposed to the idea of Asians immigrating to Canada. In “Constructing the Great Menace” by David Goutor, it outlines the oppression of Asians by labour leaders which does not conclude that labour leaders hated all immigration and had a prejudice against all racialized groups. The unionists’ main argument for this opposition is based on the stereotype that Asians were claimed to have “accepted low wages and degraded working conditions” thus proving that they will diminish the standard of living for Canadian workers. These Labour Leaders were prejudice to Asians in an effort to supposedly protect Canadian workers and their jobs. However, it is not fair to say that labour
Generations of native people in Canada have faced suffering and cultural loss as a result of European colonization of their land. Government legislation has impacted the lives of five generations of First Nations people and as a result the fifth generation (from 1980 to present) is working to recover from their crippled cultural identity (Deiter-McArthur 379-380). This current generation is living with the fallout of previous government policies and societal prejudices that linger from four generations previous. Unrepentant, Canada’s ‘Genocide’, and Saskatchewan’s Indian People – Five Generations highlight issues that negatively influence First Nations people. The fifth generation of native people struggle against tremendous adversity in regard to assimilation, integration, separation, and recovering their cultural identity with inadequate assistance from our great nation.
...ton, Pierre. Marching as to War: Canada's Turbulent Years, 1899-1953. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 2001. Print.
Galois, Robert M. “Upper Canada: Agriculture and Rural Settlement.” Lecture, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, November 10, 2011.
Large numbers of Chinese immigrants were recruited to live in Canada and work as labourers on the railway. They arrived in masses with the hopes of being able to earn a living and making a life in a promising new country. The working and social conditions they were met with were far from what they had expected or envisioned.
More immigration lead to racism and fear among both English Canadians who believed immigrants were taking away their jobs and French Canadians who feared that immigrants may potentially dominate their culture. These misconceptions and fears lead the Canadian government to declare new regulations that restricted the immigration of Asian and eastern, and southern European descents as well as Jewish immigrants. Canada gave more preference to descendants of both Britain and Western Europe. Policies were then developed to grant access to the best immigrants (as it was called) who were mainly whites that possessed a wealth of skills and benefits but to exclude the non whites who we...
This article focused mainly the emergence of the first people in America: Who they are, where they came from and how they got to America. He discussed three main routes as to how they arrived in America, none of which were without criticisms. In trying to determine whom the first people in America are, Hadingham began with the Clovis points and their creators, the Clovis people, who lived about 12,500 to 13,500 years ago, and tried to trace their origin.
Steckley, J., & Cummins, B. D. (2008). Full circle: Canada's First Nations (2nd ed.). Toronto:
Thompson, John Herd, and Mark Paul Richard. "Canadian History in North American Context." In Canadian studies in the new millennium. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 37-64.
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the Canadian government developed several racist policies to contest the settlement of Chinese immigrants in Canada. Following the government’s reaction to Chinese immigrants a Canadian moral panic evolved . The first Canadian Prime Minister, John A. MacDonald (1878-1891) had a vision for the ideal “white” Canada . This Canada would be physically and morally prosperous by exhibiting European dominance over visible minorities. Racism occurred in different aspects from general mistreatment to formal legislation limiting movement and entry into Canada’s borders.