• Children of the Pier: Adolescent Experiences of Arrival and Process
    … by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated September 28, 2020) Introduction: Adolescent … 21’s site history is the immigration experience of children. Young newcomers are frequently mentioned in relation to the immigration process … the ship, the Jewish refugee family from Poland was given tags to help officials and volunteers guide them to the proper train for the final …
  • 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 … (Q): What did you tell the Immigration Officer on the boat? Mr Singh (A): A man at Hong Kong told me to say what I said on the boat. Q: Is what you said on the boat true? A: The man at Hong King said to me ‘You say just as I am telling you …
  • Historic Pier 21
    by Steve Schwinghamer, Historian (Updated January 28, 2022) Pier 21 was built as one of four adjoining waterfront sheds, the key transit areas of Halifax’s South End Ocean Terminals. The overall development included the grain elevator system, hotel and rail station, rail car maintenance shed, the …
  • 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 …
  • The Barr/Britannia Colony, Part II
    … by Daniel Meister, PhD Introduction The first part of this article traced the origins of the Barr Colony and its leaders. It demonstrated that the colony was … The Barr/Britannia Colony, Part II …
  • Port of Precedence: A History of Immigration at the Port of Quebec Part 1
    by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated October 22, 2020) Introduction Before the arrival of Europeans, Algonquin and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nations were the primary inhabitants along the St. Lawrence River (known in Mohawk as Kaniatarowanenneh , meaning “big waterway”) and the area later …
  • 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 …
  • Port of Entry, Process and Gatekeepers – A History of Immigration at the Port of Quebec during the Great Depression
    … by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated October 14, 2020) In May 2015, the Canadian Museum … Canadian immigration officer Fenton Crosman, described the edifice as “a low concrete building, at least one-eighth of a mile in length, with … Railway that food prepared in the immigration hall was properly cooked “although it did not please everyone.” Bed linens were changed once per …
  • Sign Up to Stay in touch
    Get the latest from Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter, offers, exhibitions, events, and programs.   Name Email *   I authorize the Museum to send me the monthly HTML newsletter * * Privacy Policy …