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1867-1914: Background / Fitful Growth / Changing Conditions / First Wave / Laurier Boom
Fitful Growth: Block Settlements
Economy
Policy Foundations
Block Settlements
More success attended some of the first block settlement schemes undertaken by the government, most notably with the Mennonites. Facing religious persecution in Russia after 1871, they began financing their own emigration. Charitable groups and other international Mennonite communities offered support. The Canadian government attempted to attract these agricultural people with
generous assistance, settlement loans, and promises to reserve large areas of land for them in Manitoba. The government also promised educational freedoms and exemption from military service. By 1874, almost 1,400 families had settled in southern Manitoba, and three years later, the provincial Mennonite population reached 7,000.
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