Which Immigrant group do you think had the most challenging circumstances to overcome in Canada? Why?
Answers
Explanation:
The movement of individuals of one country into another for the purpose of resettlement is central to Canadian history. The story of Canadian immigration is not one of orderly population growth; instead, it has been — and remains one — about economic development as well as Canadian attitudes and values. It has often been unashamedly economically self-serving and ethnically or racially discriminatory despite contributing to creating a multicultural society (see Immigration Policy in Canada; Refugees to Canada). Immigration has also contributed to dispossessing Indigenous peoples of their ancestral lands.
Immigration to New France (16th–18th Century)
Throughout the 17th and much of the 18th century, European colonial administrations, charged with overseeing what would become Canada, did not consider settlement a priority. French or British governments initially seemed unprepared to expend vast quantities of money or energy necessary to encourage settlement. Nor was migration to Canada popular in France or Britain. Adventurers, explorers, and particularly traders acting for British or French interests feared the interference of settlers in the lucrative trade (see Fur Trade).
However, policy eventually changed and colonial authorities carefully and slowly encouraged settlement in Canada. It was their hope that settlers would guarantee the sovereignty of colonial land claims and exploit natural resources — often on behalf of European investors. It was also hoped that the settlers would convert Indigenous peoples to Christianity. Settlements grew gradually but not without difficulty. New France's population at the time of the British Conquest (1759–60) was about 65,000. In Nova Scotia, a transplanted Scottish community was supplemented by German and Swiss settlers. In the late 1700s, Irish settlers reinforced Newfoundland's population.
Although the British victory limited migration from France (see also French Immigration in Canada), it did not immediately bring about a large number of English-speaking immigrants. Except for a handful of British administrators, military personnel, and merchants who filled the vacuum left by their departing French counterparts, few English-speaking settlers seemed interested in Canada. Indeed, it is doubtful whether settlers would have been welcomed by the new British administrators. The latter feared that an influx of English-speaking Protestant settlers would complicate administration in a recently conquered Roman Catholic French-speaking territory. Most British migrants were far more inclined to seek out the more temperate climate and familiar social institutions of the American colonies south of Canada.