IMMIGRANTS BY: DOUG SYER, VLAD BERBECEL, SARAH KEMPER

INTRODUCTION IMMIGRANTS WERE PEOPLE WHO CAME FROM OTHER COUNTRIES AND SOME WERE NOT WELCOME AND OTHER HAD LEGAL RIGHT TO BE THERE BUT MOST WERE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST.

GOVERNMENT POLICIES ·CANADIANS NEEDED JOBS AFTER WWI ·IMMIGRANT POLICIES DENIED ENTRY TO MORE AND MORE PEOPLE

JEWISH DISCRIMINATION IN THE YEAR 1938, A SHIP NAMED ST. LOUIS WAS CARRYING 907 JEWISH GERMAN CITIZENS. IT HAD LEFT HAMBURG, GERMANY BEFORE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, WHEN HITLER WOULD TAKE OVER GERMANY AND IMPOSE HIS JEW DISCRIMINATING LAWS. THEY WERE AIMING TO GO TO CUBA, BUT HAVE BEEN TURNED AWAY! THEY HAD MADE ONE MORE LEAP FOR FREEDOM BY TRAVELLING NORTH TO CANADA IN HOPES OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, BUT AS SURPRISING AS IT MIGHT SEEM, THEY WERE ALSO TURNED AWAY AND SENT BACK TO GERMANY WHERE MOST OF THEM WOULD DIE INNOCENTLY DURING THE HOLOCAUST. HAD THE CANADIANS KNOWN THAT, I THOUGHT SURELY THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED THEM AND SAVED THEIR LIVES. I WAS WRONG, BECAUSE AFTER THE WAR IN 1945, A CANADIAN OFFICIAL WAS ASKED HOW MANY JEWS CANADA WOULD ADMIT; HE RESPONDED, “NONE IS TOO MANY”. AFTER ALL THAT HAD HAPPENED DURING THE WAR IT SEEMED UNBELIEVABLE THAT ANYBODY COULD EVEN SAY SUCH A THING.

FEELING PERSECUTED A LOT OF IMMIGRANTS COMPLAINED BECAUSE THEY FELT PERSECUTED BY EVERYBODY ELSE BECAUSE OF THEIR SKIN TONE, RELIGION, NATIONALITY AND MANY OTHER THINGS. ALSO SOME BELIEVED THAT THEY WERE BEING BLAMED FOR CRIMES THEY DID NOT COMMIT

IMMIGRANTS WHO WERE WELCOME AFTER WW1 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CREATED THE DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND COLONIZATION TO SET OUT TO ATTRACT BRITISH IMMIGRANTS. CANADIAN PACIFIC AND CANADIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS OWNED MUCH OF THE AVAILABLE PRAIRIE FARMLAND. BOTH COMPANIES LAUNCHED ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS IN BRITAIN BRITISH IMMIGRANTS COULD BORROW MONEY FROM THE RAILWAYS TO PAY FOR THEIR PASSAGE AND TO BUY LAND. THEY COULD EVEN BUY HOUSES AND BARNS FROM RAILWAY COMPANIES. IN 1923, THE BRITISH AND CANADIAN GOVERNMENTS CO-OPERATION THE 1923 BRITISH SETTLEMENT ACT OPROMOTED THE IMMIGRATION OF BRITISH WORKERS TO CANADA

PART 2 THE AFFECT OF IMMIGRATION DURING THE DEPRESSION MANY THINGS CHANGED DURING THE DEPRESSION WITH MANY CANADIANS OUT OF WORK, THE GOVERNMENT LIMITED IMMIGRATION, EVEN FROM COUNTRIES WHERE IMMIGRANTS HAD BEEN ACTIVELY RECRUITED DURING THE 1920S. ONLY WHITE AMERICAN AND BRITISH IMMIGRANTS WHO HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO SUPPORT THEM WERE ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTRY. UNEMPLOYED IMMIGRANTS AND “TROUBLEMAKERS” WERE DEPORTED TO THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. OTROUBLE MAKERS: THOSE WHO TRIED TO ORGANIZE WORKERS INTO UNIONS

THE KOMAGATA MARU INCIDENT IN 1914, A SHIP CALLED THE KOMAGATA MARU WAS HIRED TO CARRY INDIAN PASSENGERS TO VANCOUVER FROM ASIA. THE SHIP TOOK ON PASSENGERS IN HONG KONG, SHANGHAI, AND YOKOHAMA. WHEN IT ENTERED VANCOUVER HARBOUR ON MAY 23RD, CANADIAN OFFICIALS REFUSED TO ALLOW THE PASSENGERS TO DISEMBARK.

PART 2 OTHE CONTINUOUS PASSAGE ACT WAS AN ACT WHICH REQUIRED AN UNINTERRUPTED JOURNEY ON THEIR PASSAGE TICKET, WHICH MEANS A “CONTINUOUS PASSAGE” FROM WHERE THEY CAME FROM TO CANADA FOR TWO MONTHS THE KOMAGATA MARU SAT IN THE HARBOUR. OTHE INDIAN COMMUNITY IN VANCOUVER SUPPLIED THE PASSENGERS WITH GOODS ON JULY 23RD, THE SHIP WAS ESCORTED OUT OF THE HARBOUR AND SENT BACK TO INDIA. WHEN THE SHIP ARRIVED IN KOLKATA, IT WAS MET BY BRITISH POLICE, WHO TREATED THE PASSENGERS AS CRIMINALS. SOME WHERE KILLED AND OTHERS WERE ARRESTED AND JAILED.

THE SAINT LOUIS OTHE CONTINUOUS PASSAGE ACT WAS AN ACT WHICH REQUIRED AN UNINTERRUPTED JOURNEY ON THEIR PASSAGE TICKET, WHICH MEANS A “CONTINUOUS PASSAGE” FROM WHERE THEY CAME FROM TO CANADA FOR TWO MONTHS THE KOMAGATA MARU SAT IN THE HARBOUR. OTHE INDIAN COMMUNITY IN VANCOUVER SUPPLIED THE PASSENGERS WITH GOODS ON JULY 23RD, THE SHIP WAS ESCORTED OUT OF THE HARBOUR AND SENT BACK TO INDIA. WHEN THE SHIP ARRIVED IN KOLKATA, IT WAS MET BY BRITISH POLICE, WHO TREATED THE PASSENGERS AS CRIMINALS. SOME WHERE KILLED AND OTHERS WERE ARRESTED AND JAILED.

PART 2 WHEN THEY ARRIVED THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED TO DISEMBARK. THEY APPEALED FOR HELP TO BOTH CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES, BUT BOTH COUNTRIES REFUSED TO ACCEPT THEM. THE ST. LOUIS WAS FORCED TO SAIL BACK ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

DISCRIMINATION IN CANADA ·TRYING TO ATTRACT CERTAIN IMMIGRANTS TO CANADA ·BLACK PEOPLE FROM THE UNITED STATES WERE UNWELCOME AS WERE ASIAN PEOPLE FROM INDIA, CHINA, AND JAPAN ·CANADIAN GOVERNMENT SAID THAT BLACKS WERE “UNSUITED TO LIVE IN CANADA” ·BLACKS ALREADY LIVING IN CANADA WERE SEGREGATED ·SEGREGATION WAS RULED ACCEPTABLE IN THE THEATRES OF QUEBEC ·CHINESE IMMIGRANTS WERE FORCED TO PAY A HEAD TAX SINCE 1885 AND ONCE IN CANADA, CHINESE AND JAPANESE PEOPLE WERE NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE ·CONTINUOUS PASSAGE LAW STATED THAT A SHIP CARRYING INDIAN PASSENGERS COULD NOT STOP AT ANY PORT ALONG THE WAY

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