Canada Immigration History

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The term immigration can be defined as “the movement of nationals of one country into another for the purpose of resettlement” (Troper). Canada is often referred to as the land of immigrants because millions of immigrants have settled there and played a significant role in shaping the economy and culture of the country (“Backgrounder”). The history of immigration to Canada dates back thousands of years beginning with the arrival of Paleo Indians, continuing with the settlement of the first European arrivals, the English and the French and others coming from different parts of Europe later on and finally with that of people coming from Asia (Dreisziger). Although all the different nations had and still have a remarkable influence on the country’s…show more content…
They wanted to escape poverty and an antiquated social system, in which the lower classes and peasants enjoyed only little or no respect (“Hungarian Immigrants”). The majority of emigrants were single men between the ages of twenty and forty-nine. They did not intend to leave their country permanently, their main aim was to make enough money abroad so that when they returned they could pay their debts, buy themselves land, and live a better way of life, still most of them remained there (Dreisziger et al. 32). During the 1870-1914 period of emigration, the estimated number of emigrants was almost 640,000 but most people (about 556,000) emigrated to the United States during this period and only about 8,000 to Canada. However, a lot of people who chose to emigrate to the New World decided soon to migrate to Canada after they realized the conditions and became disappointed because of the industrial slums of the U.S. (Dreisziger). That is why they are often called transmigrants. The first wave of Hungarian immigrants settled mainly in the prairie provinces (before 1914 Saskatchewan was sometimes referred to as the “Little Hungary”) but later on they moved to cities and towns and this tendency continued in the 1920s, as well (Dreisziger). Today more than half of all immigrants and every second person…show more content…
In the pre-1914 period land scarcity, widespread industrialization and economic recession bringing the agrarian society hardships, resulting in unemployment were all major factors that contributed to Hungarians’ emigration. The reason why Hungarians found emigration the best alternative in the interwar years (1921-1940) and in the post-World War II period was that they wanted to escape the negative post-war changes and the social and political transformations (including terror and persecution in the latter period). When talking about the composition of immigrants, it can be stated that pre-1914 emigrants and interwar emigrants were predominantly agrarian laborers, however among people belonging to the second group there were also nobles, businessmen and artists. Post-war emigrants were predominantly from middle and upper and they were better educated and more skilled than the early arrivals. In general, emigrants were young adult males in all but the 1956 wave of emigration with the hope of a chance for a better life in

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