1914-1945: Overview / War Years / Interwar Years / World War II / Changing Attitudes

Overview

Beginning in 1914, the flow of immigrants into Canada was interrupted by the First World War, years of uncertain economic growth in the early 1920s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and then the Second World War. In these years, Canada also raised new barriers to block numerous immigrant groups, especially those from continental and Eastern Europe. Government policies significantly reduced immigration totals until the 1950s. As historians Ninette Kelley and Michael Trebilock point out, the period between the world wars introduced new ideas about immigration itself. Nation-builders had previously seen immigration as an important engine of national and economic growth. They introduced a quasi-open door

immigration policy to welcome newcomers whose numbers reached unprecedented levels just before the beginning of the First World War. After the war's conclusion, immigration policy and attitudes towards immigrants changed. Reflecting concerns already voiced by Frank Oliver, Canadians became more concerned with maintaining social harmony. They saw immigration as disrupting Canadian society through the too rapid introduction of new groups of people from different cultures. In response to these concerns, post-war immigration policy restricted the entrance and then, during the Depression years, excluded altogether numerous groups from entering Canada.

1867-1914: Laurier Boom

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