Ontarians have been important and influential in the formation of Alberta as a province.
Although many other groups have contributed to the culture and identity of Alberta, Ontarians
have been one of the most formative groups with respect to the
shaping of Albertan society, its politics and its industry - so
much so that at one point Alberta was referred to as Rural Ontario West.
In 1870 the Dominion of Canada purchased an area referred to as
the Northwest and shortly after began to negotiate treaties with
the First Nations peoples of the region with an eye to opening up
their new territory to settlement and, hopefully, agricultural industry.
By 1880 tens of thousands of Ontarians began migrating westward to
set up homesteads. Many, indeed, became farmers but many more
became prominent politicians, civil servants and
journalists. The move of Ontarians into the region was
of such mass proportions that between 1881 and 1891 the white
population of the Northwest skyrocketed from just over 1,000 up to
17, 000, the majority of which were Ontarians. By 1889, the
Canadian Pacific Railway had completed its line from Quebec, to
Ontario, across the prairies and to present-day Alberta. This
provided the people of Quebec and Ontario with even more incentive
to move west to take advantage of the opportunities that no-doubt
were available in the developing region.
The peak of Ontarian migration occurred between 1891 and 1910 when the population of Alberta grew from approximately 25,000 to over 375,000.
As the federal government pushed its National Policy to the
extreme, soliciting settlers from around the world. While the
arrival of migrants from Ontario did a great service to settling
the west and establishing the hallmarks of civil society including
a legislature, provincial policing, educational facilities and
organized regional government, the experience was not without its
drawbacks. For years prior to the arrival of the Ontarians the
Francophone community had flourished in Alberta. The first
European language to be spoken and taught in the territories was
French and the Francophones had established several communities,
missions and schools to administer to their needs. The onslaught
of Ontarians to the region was perceived as a great threat to the
Francophone way of life in the west and spawned an insecurity that
would poison relations between French and English in the region
for decades to come.
The 1920s witnessed the continued migration of Ontarians to
Alberta once the Canadian Pacific Railway's harvester excursions
began. By 1925, nearly 55, 000 temporary workers were
arriving in Alberta each fall to help with the harvest. The
Depression and stock market crash that ushered in the 1930s his
Alberta hard and many Ontarians moved out of the province to find
work elsewhere, making the 1930s the decade that saw the fewest
numbers of Ontarians residing in Alberta. The next wave of
Ontarian migration to Alberta coincided with the Leduc #1 oil
strike in 1947. The oil strike itself is considered one of the
most important
economic events in Canadian history and it brought with it renewed
excitement for Alberta's economy. The oil strike kick-started the
oil industry in Alberta and created jobs for skilled labour which,
in turn, began once again to attract migrants from Ontario. A new wave of
people from Ontario made the journey to this province that had once again brought hope of
being the "promised land". This time, however, the newcomers from Ontario did not dominate
the Albertan landscape as they once did. The formation of Alberta and its
modern identity continues to show the influences of the liberal Anglo-Saxon Ontario culture, but now, Ontarians
coming to Alberta simply add to the province's distinctive identity without dominating or
directing it.
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This digital collection was
produced with financial assistance from Canada's Digital
Collections initiative, Industry Canada.
Heritage Community Foundation Presents
