1871 |
census lists 1,035 Italians (by race of origin). |
1881 |
census lists 1,849 Italians. |
1901 |
census lists 10,834 Italians. |
1901- 07 |
census lists 43,213 Italians.
Italian men were brought to Canada by padroni working with
developers who required labourers to do heavy and dangerous work
(for example, in the mines, building the railways). As a result of
unemployment in these industries, Italian migrant workers in
Montreal were viewed as a threat to law and order and a Royal
Commission on Italian Immigrant Labour was set up in July
1904.
Before 1910, as a rule, only single
men came to Canada. After 1910, whole families began to
arrive. The growing Canadian cities required the skills
brought by Italian artisans (small shopkeepers, bricklayers,
stone masons, market gardeners, etc.)
|
1905 |
Italian parish in Montreal |
1908 |
Italian parish in Toronto |
1915 |
Il treno degli
italiani: on May 24, a
special train left Vancouver for Montreal to take men who
wished to fight for Italy in World War I to the port of
embarkation.
|
1920 |
Tightening up of immigration
rules for southern Europeans. Between 1925 and 1945, only a
few hundred Italians entered Canada yearly. After 1929, only
farmers could enter Canada from Italy.
Because Italians in Canada were a
minority, there was tremendous pressure to become assimilated.
By 1931, 62% of Italians born in Canada were naturalized
Canadians.
|
1940 |
June 10, Mussolini declared war on Great Britain
and some Italians were arrested and interned in special camps.
On the other hand, numbers of Italo-Canadians to volunteer for
the Canadian Armed Forces were high.
|
1947- 51 |
The "enemy alien" designation of
Italians was removed and the Canadian government began active
recruitment of "bulk labour" from Italy. Within a
single decade, recent immigrants outnumbered older Italo-Canadians
by 4:1.
|
1951 |
Official estimates indicated that there were
150,000 people of Italian descent in Canada.
|
1961 |
Estimated numbers of Italians is 450,000.
Women and children in great numbers
came with their men in the 1950s. They created a need for
Italian consumer goods which resulted in the creation of
Italian food stores. The women also created a pool of
part-time workers (for example, for garment industries,
cleaning industries, service staff for hospital and
restaurants, etc.)
|
1981 |
Estimated number of Italians is 747,970.
|
1983 |
25th anniversary of founding of Santa Maria
Goretti in Edmonton
|