Monthly Feature
Why the United Nations invited the Museum to share Canada’s under-told history
Immigration History
Besides race, ideology, and nationalism, immigration restrictions at this time were also deeply intertwined with popular pseudoscience, including eugenics.
In 1919, the Canadian government amended its immigration law to include a literacy test. Civic literacy testing developed as a tool of exclusion based on theories of race and eugenics. Despite this, the literacy test developed by Canadian immigration authorities was separate in a few important ways from this lineage. That test, the action test of 1920, offers us an example of how broad restrictive influences were adapted and blunted in Canadian practice.
Read the full article: The Action Test of 1920: Literacy and Selection in Canadian Immigration⟶
Immigration History
"It must be thoroughly understood that we cannot feed the people…"
The Great Potato Famine (1845-1852) is central to Irish identity and commemoration in Canada. About 100,000 Irish emigrated in 1847 alone, fleeing poverty, disease, and potato crop failure. They first settled in what is now Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The famine and resulting migrations reduced Ireland’s population from 8 to 2 million by 1860. By 1871, the Irish were Canada’s largest ethnic group in towns and cities, excluding Montreal and Quebec City.
Read the full article: Hunger and Hope: Irish Famine Migration to Canada⟶
Countless Journeys Podcast
Listen in on these original interviews where guests share the obstacles—and the fun—they experienced on their way to building lives in Canada.
