With the end of World War I, Canada entered an era of
uncertainty—the Russian Revolution
of 1917 had created a great amount of apprehension regarding the rise of
socialism and the
anti-foreign sentiment that surfaced in Canada during the war continued to intensify with
postwar economic instability. Spurred on by popular support and the events of the Winnipeg General
Strike, in 1919 the Canadian government revised the Immigration Act.
Although the Immigration Act of 1910 provided the federal government with the power to limit
immigration as it saw fit, the revisions of 1919 formalized immigration guidelines based on
preferred cultural and ideological traits. While migrants of British,
American or northwestern
European stock were always considered ideal candidates, "less suitable" groups had
also been accepted
in the past when the demand for their professional skills warranted
it. This was the case with
the large number of agriculturalists from central and eastern Europe who
settled in the Canadian
West.
Now, migrants with ideological beliefs in contradiction to the Canadian government could be barred
entrance and people with cultural traits that the government found undesirable could be excluded. In 1919 the newly revised Immigration Act was used to
deny entry to any group whose nation of
origin had been an enemy during World War I. Doukhobors,
Mennonites and Hutterites were also
rejected at this time because their cultural practices were considered too distinctive.
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This digital collection was
produced with financial assistance from Canada's Digital
Collections initiative, Industry Canada.