• The Pier Goes To War: Halifax’s Pier 21 and the Second World War
    … by Steve Schwinghamer, Historian (Updated January 28, 2022) Aerial view of Ocean Terminals c. 1940. Credit: Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 … The Pier Goes To War: Halifax’s Pier 21 and the Second World War …
  • The Action Test of 1920: Literacy and Selection in Canadian Immigration
    … used language proficiency as a point of consideration in deciding whether a migrant is admissible to Canada. [1] This is not generally a … . [3] Insofar as provincial legislation on agriculture or immigration “is not repugnant to any Act of the Parliament of Canada,” provincial and federal regulation … The Action Test of 1920: Literacy and Selection in Canadian Immigration …
  • Hooks for History: Using a Building Model to Introduce Complex Pasts
    … Historic Site: Halifax’s historical immigration facility at Pier 21. One of the principal tasks for the Museum has been to introduce and orient visitors to the historic place as they … – even things as tiny and offbeat as the addition of miniature trash cans – that would add opportunities for richer interpretation based on …
  • “The existing Immigration regulations will not offer any solution”: MS St. Louis in Canadian Context
    … implementation of that refusal supports the description offered in the official government apology of 2018 for denying sanctuary to the … West around the turn of the twentieth century. [9] There were also many Jewish immigrants who came to the West and turned to business. As … the Chinese café.” [10] However, the responses of Canadian immigration officials to growing numbers of Jewish immigrants show that even …
  • The Colour Bar at the Canadian Border: Black American Farmers
    by Steve Schwinghamer, Historian (Updated July 20, 2021) “I am not sure whether it will interest you or not but I may state that a number of coloured people have been going from your district lately to Western Canada, and it is not considered that they are a class of colonists who will be likely to …
  • Children of the Pier: Adolescent Experiences of Arrival and Process
    … by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated September 28, 2020) Introduction: Adolescent Impressions of Immigrating to Canada An often overlooked aspect of Pier 21’s site history is the immigration … Children of the Pier: Adolescent Experiences of Arrival and Process …
  • Resettling Child Refugees: Canada and Armenian Orphans, 1923-1927
    … legal documentation and provide testimony to a federal immigration official that he or she is a minor. Otherwise, within Canadian immigration policy, … who were resettled in Canada, between 1869 and 1932. But little has been written about another, much smaller, experiment nearly a …
  • “The Immigration Act a weapon”: Panama Maru and the Exclusion of Immigrants, 1913
    … by Steve Schwinghamer, Historian (Updated January 28, 2022) On 17 October 1913, Panama Maru … claimed to be returning to Canada while aboard Panama Maru , none were, and all but one recanted their stories quickly as immigration … “The Immigration Act a weapon”: Panama Maru and the Exclusion of Immigrants, 1913 …
  • Deportation from Canada during the Great Depression
    by Steve Schwinghamer, Historian (Updated July 20, 2021) “There is no Exclusion Act in the Dominion of Canada” “The doors which once were opened wide are now but slightly ajar. The countries that boasted of their liberal attitudes toward new settlers – particularly the countries of the Western …
  • Hours and Admission Prices
    … October 31 Open: Seven days a week, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm From November 26, 2025, to April 15, 2026, you can buy your tickets at the Boutique. The Museum elevator will be temporarily out of service. Accommodations will be available for any visitors requiring assistance. Admission Prices Free admission All …