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Immigration, the entrance of people into a country for the purpose of settling there, has always played a central role in Canada's history. It was as much a feature of ancient times, when the ancestors of Canada's native peoples migrated from Asia by land via Beringia or by sea via the Japanese current, [note 1] as it is of the present day, when immigrants from around the world come to this country in the thousands.
At no time has immigration played a greater role in Canadian history than during the twentieth century. In fact, without the immigrants who have settled in all areas of the country since the turn of the century, Canada would not be the culturally rich, prosperous, and progressive nation that it is today. The flood of people that poured into Canada between 1900 and 1914 and the dramatic changes in immigration patterns that occurred in more recent decades created a present-day population that bears little resemblance to the population in 1900. A snapshot of Canada in 1900 reveals a country with only seven provinces (Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia) and a population of only 5,371,315, most of which is strung out along a narrow corridor just north of the American border. In this population, Aboriginal peoples number approximately 127,000 (2.4 percent), while people of British origin account for the largest part, numbering 3,063,195 (57 percent). Canadians of French origin, some 1,649,371 in number (30.7 percent), are concentrated in Quebec, which was settled by the French between 1608 and 1759. Small and relatively insignificant numbers of people of Scandinavian and central, southern, and east European origin have made their homes in Montréal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and across the Prairies. In this turn-of-the-century snapshot, small pockets of Canadians of Asiatic origin can be found scattered across the country, although their numbers are concentrated in British Columbia. Especially noteworthy are survivors from among the 15,000 Chinese who were brought to Canada between 1880 and 1885 to toil on the British Columbia leg of the Canadian Pacific Railway. When work on the main railway line was finished in 1885, thousands of these Chinese were forced to migrate across the country in search of work. Fast-forward to 1971 and the last Canadian census of ethnic origin conducted within the time frame of this book. Now we find a significantly different picture. We discover that Canada boasts a population of 21,568,310. In this population, Aboriginal peoples number 312,760 (1.5 percent), while people of British origin number 9,624,115 (44.6 percent) and Canadians of French origin 6,180,120 (28.7 percent). There are 1,317,200 people of German origin (6.1 percent) and 730,820 Canadians of Italian origin (3.4 percent). Canadians of Ukrainian origin number 580,660 (2.7 percent), while Canadians of Asian origin number 285,540 (1.3 percent). By 1996, one in ten Canadians will be neither white nor Aboriginal and visible minorities will make up nearly one-third of Vancouver's population and a corresponding portion of Toronto's. It is to immigration that we owe these changes in Canada's ethnic composition since the turn of the century.
Ever since France began dispatching settlers in the early seventeenth century to its tiny fur-trading post on the St. Lawrence River, successive waves of immigrants have left their own distinctive mark on Canadian society. In the closing years of the eighteenth century, these included some 40,000 to 50,000 Loyalists, refugees from the newly established United States of America who settled in what is now southern Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritime provinces. The first half of the nineteenth century saw a huge influx of British immigrants transform the face of Ontario. And, as noted, this century has seen the greatest changes, whether as a result of the Asian, South American, and Caribbean influxes of recent decades or of the streams of immigrants from continental Europe, Great Britain, and the United States in the opening years of the century, each group bringing the labour, capital, skills, and cultural diversity that are so essential to the building of a new country.
Continental Europeans did not settle in Canada in significant numbers in the early years of Confederation, but by the time that the fledgling dominion was sending soldiers to South Africa to fight in the Boer War (18991902), they had begun to arrive in unprecedented numbers. Of the almost 3 million immigrants who made their way to Canada between 1900 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, more than 500,000 came from continental Europe. This was Canada's first great wave of European immigration. Also, during these years, close to a million people emigrated from the British Isles, which continued to furnish Canada with its largest number of immigrants, and more than 750,000 arrived from the United States, many of them returning Canadians. This huge influx of people represented a watershed in Canadian immigration history. From that time until today, Canada has never received the number of immigrants that it did in 1913, when over 400,000 newcomers arrived on Canadian soil. But throughout this century immigrants did continue to choose Canada as their new country, and a second great wave (the last one to date) occurred between 1947 and 1961. Although this wave, like the first, featured newcomers from continental Europe, southern Europe, especially Italy, and central Europe became much more important sources of immigrants. By contrast, immigration from Great Britain declined substantially from the earlier period (19001914).
Thanks to these waves of humanity settling in our country, Canada has developed a much more cosmopolitan outlook and a much richer and more vibrant culture. This is especially true of the last few decades, which have seen striking new industrial and technological initiatives, a new burgeoning of the arts, and the development of a keen interest in and appreciation of the cuisine of faraway countries. Large numbers of immigrants in our present-day cities have also thrust the immigration question into the political spotlight and made the ethnic vote a significant factor in many communities. Beyond shaping Canada's social, economic, and political culture, immigration has served an even more vital function, one that is inextricably linked to this country's low birth rate. Canada's annual rate of population growth (natural increase plus net migration) has declined steadily in recent decades, from 3 percent in the late 1950s to less than 1 percent in the late 1990s. Much of this decline can be ascribed to the steep plunge in fertility rates after the baby boom period, largely the result of more women entering or re-entering the work force. In 1959, the fertility rate was four children per woman, but by 1998 the rate had dropped to less than two per woman, considerably below the replacement level. Should this low fertility rate continue--and all indications are that it will--immigration will become essential for this country's healthy growth and even, perhaps, for its survival. At the time of the 1996 census, 17.4 percent of the people living in Canada were first-generation immigrants, the highest proportion in 50 years. Recognizing the critical role that immigration plays in its development, Canada has put into place an active program for selecting and settling newcomers who will become full Canadian citizens. Only a handful of other countries have such a program. Canada also distinguishes itself by accepting more immigrants and refugees for permanent settlement in proportion to its population than any other country in the world.
__________ 1. Canada's Aboriginal peoples commonly believe that they have lived on Canadian soil from the beginning of time and that various myths of theirs support this position.
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