IV: 1945-1967: Post-war Years: Policy (1)

1945-1967: Introduction / Post-war Years / 1952 Immigration Act / Policy Practise

Post-war Years: Policy to 1952

Reconstruction

Racial Discrimination

Policy to 1952

In 1947, Prime Minister Mackenzie King made a now famous speech to the House of Commons, outlining his government's vision of immigrants and immigration. King referred to the controversy surrounding the tens of thousands of displaced Europeans seeking homes after the Second World War. His comments reflected the tension between the government's goal of economic growth and the still controversial issue of "undesirable" immigration to help to achieve this growth. He admitted that the Government should "foster economic growth" by encouraging immigration. But he assured Parliament that the immigrants would be carefully selected and admitted only in numbers that could be absorbed into the national economy. "The people of Canada do not wish, as a result of mass immigration," he said, "to make a fundamental alteration in the character of our population…. Any considerable Oriental immigration would… be certain to give rise to social and economic problems." 9

Although King's statements reflected ongoing concerns about Oriental immigrants (at a time when Canada had just concluded war against Japan), many Europeans who were not of British or French extraction were accepted into Canada at this time.

National Archives of Canada (C-000387).

William Lyon Mackenzie
King, n.d.

In 1947, Prime Minister King vowed that Canada would be selective in the type of immigrant that the country would accept. He insisted that immigration must not fundamentally alter the composition and character of the nation.