1867-1914: Background / Fitful Growth / Changing Conditions / First Wave / Laurier Boom

Laurier Boom

Clifford Sifton

Economic Takeoff

Demography

Frank Oliver

These differences were striking to Canadians who had grown up in a nation that had drawn immigrants almost exclusively from the British Isles. Those who had witnessed Confederation in 1867 had lived in a nation whose population was 60 per cent of British origin, 30 per cent of French descent, and only 7 per cent of other European descent. By 1911, the British proportion had fallen to 55 per cent and the French to 29 per cent, while peoples of other European origins now accounted for 9 per cent of the population. While these figures

suggest only moderate change, they obscure regional differences. Central Canadians were by no means witnessing a "multicultural" society, but their Western Canadian counterparts were. In the West, "non-British" immigration was adding significant diversity to schools and community life, so much so that a virulent backlash against non-British immigration was mounting and social reformers were blaming Sifton's immigration policies for beginning British "race suicide" in Canada.

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