Immigration
| Author | H. F. Angus |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070204600100109 |
| Published date | 01 January 1946 |
| Date | 01 January 1946 |
IMMIGRATION
H.
F.
ANGUS
If
by
an
immigration
policy we
mean
an
organized
effort
to
bring
settlers
to
Canada
in
considerable
numbers
it
is
probable
that
such
will
not
be
formulated
until
the
men
released
from
the armed
forces
and from
war
industries
have
found employment.
In
the
meantime
men
and
women
who wish to
come
to
Canada
will
probably
be
left
free
to
do
so
if
they
are
admissible
under our
ordinary
immigration
law.
They
will
come
without
special
encouragement,
and entirely at
their
own
risk,
and
it
is
even
possible
that
if
they
come
in
substantial
numbers
a
demand
for
their
exclusion
may
arise.
No
one
can
wonder
that
a country
such
as
Canada should
hesitate
to make
plans
for
the
reception
of
immigrants
before
the problems
of
demobilization
and
reconstruction
have been
faced.
As
soon,
however,
as
conditions
become
stabilized,
some policy
will
be
expected
and
it
will
occasion
surprise
if
none
is
announced.
Canadian
attitudes
towards
immigration
were
profoundly
influenced
by
the
mass
unemployment
of
the
early
'thirties.
A
pioneering
generation
has
no
doubts
as
to the
ability
of
a
country
to
absorb
immigrants.
A
generation
which
has
experienced
protracted
unemployment
is
not
un-
likely
to
feel
that
if
there
are
fewer
people
it
is
easier
to
find
employment
for
them.
This
is
a
vague
sentiment
rather
than
a
considered
judgment
and
it
is
arguable
that
a
larger
population
would
be
less
likely
to
depend
on
fluctuations
in
the
external
demand
for
primary
products
and
more
able
to
maintain
a
stable economic
life
in
the midst
of
a
world-wide de-
pression.
However
this
may
be,
curious
contradictions
exist
in Canadian
at-
titudes
towards
immigration.
A
country
which
has built
its railways
and
planned
its
economy
in
the
expectation
of
a
large
population
seems
to
have
resigned
itself
to
a
prolonged
period
of
slow
growth.
People who
as
a
matter
of
course
treat
the
rate
of
population
growth
of
the
province
or
city
in
which
they
live
as
an
indication
of
prosperity
find
themselves
rather
frightened
of
an
increase
taking
place
in
the
country
at
large.
Cities
wish
to
grow,
yet
urban
birth-rates
are
not
high,
and
city
dwellers
do
not
like
to
think that
young
men
are
in
full
flight
from
our
farms.
By
implication they
ask
for
immigration.
There
is
an
explanation
of
these
contradictions.
Immigrants
are
welcome
if
they are
thought
of
as
employers
with
capital,
eager
to
estab-
lish new
industries,
or
if
they
have
the
means
to
settle down
as
pur-
chasers
of
Canadian
products.
They
are
welcome,
too,
if
there
is
a
probability
of
their
being
confined,
at
any
rate
for
a
time,
to
occupations
which
Canadians
have
tended
to
avoid,
such
as
domestic
service
or
labour
in
the
beet
fields.
Immigrants
are
unwelcome if
they
appear
likely
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