• Mennonites and Canadian Accommodation
    by Steven Schwinghamer, Historian (Updated July 21, 2021) “The problem is a vexing one” A Formal Agreement with the Government: the Privilegium Some of the earliest European agricultural settlers in Canada’s Prairie West were Russian Mennonites. Two disparate political events provided a crucial …
  • "Might Be the Best of the Lot": Baltic Refugees, Canadian Immigration Policy and the Arrival of SS Walnut
    by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated October 14, 2020) Introduction Since Confederation, Canadian immigration officials have considered many factors in determining whether an individual was ‘admissible’ and would be granted entry to Canada. The arrival in Canada of SS Walnut from Sweden in …
  • Customs and the Seizure of Goods at Pier 21
    by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated October 15, 2020) Introduction: Canadian Customs before and after the Second World War In May 2015, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 opened new exhibitions on the history of the Pier 21 National Historic Site of Canada and the history of …
  • Canada’s Oppressed Minority Policy and the Resettlement of Ugandan Asians, 1972-1973
    by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated October 16, 2020) Introduction In January 1971, the Ugandan government of President Milton Obote was overthrown in a coup d’état by the Ugandan military under the leadership of General Idi Amin . The Asian Ugandan community was initially relieved by Amin’s …
  • Forgotten Experiment: Canada’s Resettlement of Palestinian Refugees, 1955-1956
    by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian In the summer of 1955, the Canadian government took the “bold step” of admitting displaced Palestinian refugees from the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. The government approved the resettlement of 100 skilled workers and their families. Canadian officials believed that …
  • Recreating a homeland: Czechoslovak diplomats in Canada during the Second World War
    by Jan Raska, Ph.D., Historian In the 1920s, immigrants from Czechoslovakia came to Canada in search of industrial work and available land for agriculture. Czechoslovakia’s diplomats in Canada promoted loyalty to Prague’s policies in the hopes that Slovaks and Czechs would unite into a …
  • Canada’s Refugee Determination System
    by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated August 21, 2020) Origins of Canada’s Refugee Determination System The origins of Canada’s refugee determination system can be traced back to 1922, when the League of Nations (a predecessor to the United Nations (UN)) established the Nansen Passport which …
  • Kinship, Inclusion, and Exclusion in Canadian Immigration History
    by Steve Schwinghamer, Historian (Updated January 13, 2022) “I think a stalwart peasant in a sheep-skin coat, born on the soil, whose forefathers have been farmers for ten generations, with a stout wife and a half-dozen children, is good quality.” [1] This quote from Sir Clifford Sifton, the …
  • 1999: Canada’s Resettlement and Repatriation of Kosovar Refugees
    by Jan Raska, PhD, Historian (Updated July 13, 2020) Kosovar refugee children pose for a photograph in front of “sustainment site” facilities, Camp Argonaut (now Argonaut Cadet Training Centre), CFB Gagetown, 1999. Credit: Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 Collection (D2017.635.35) …
  • 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 …