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EASTERN PEOPLE ON WESTERN PRAIRIES...
advocated stricter checks on incoming immigrants; moral here mostly meant
behaving in accordance with Anglo-Canadian norms before being considered
for immigration, thus eliminating many "misfits."" The labor, agricultural,
and manufacturing sectors, which were all on the rise after the First World
War and required as many men as possible to continue increasing outputs,
were often the only supporters of such immigrants.*’ It took over a decade
before the need for male labor won out against these openly racist claims.
These three combined factors — isolating racism, existing behavioural
differences, and increased agricultural success in Alberta without needing to
change attitudes towards education and skilled labour training — helped to
create a unique culture in Alberta as time went by. Alberta still has a higher
proportion of self-employed farmers and agricultural workers than any other
province in Canada but Saskatchewan, and many of these farmers continue
to work land originally owned by their immigrant ancestors two to three
generations ago.” The general level of education has also increased in Alberta,
as it has everywhere in Canada, using the baseline of high school completion
rates. However, education remains less important to Albertans than to other
provinces, as it did during the period of post-Russian Revolution refugees.
The rate of high school completion in Alberta is the lowest of the provinces save
Manitoba (the territories also have a lower high school completion rate than
Alberta). Specifically, Alberta has the highest rate of self-employed farmers
with no high school education. Both of these trends began to appear following
the arrival of former Russian Empire immigrants, and both have remained in
the province until present, albeit in a subtler way. Interestingly, in Alberta,
more people also report learning Russian and Ukrainian than French, despite
there being several strong French communities in the northern portion of
the province, and the status of French as an official language of Canada.”
The political culture of modern Alberta also reflects the values that these
refugees brought with them. Consider the political responses to the NDP
government’s Bill 6, legislation designed to improve the safety of farm workers
that was passed in 2016. The bill affected only farms with paid employees,
going so far as to specifically exclude family members working on the farm
and neighbours volunteering to help with chores. Farms with paid non-family
employees were required to follow OHS employer standards, have Workers’
56 Ibid., 6.
57 Ibid. 6.
58 Census Profile, 2016 Census, Statistics Canada, 2017, Textual Records, no. 98-316¬
X2016001, LAC. Last Modified 29 November 2017, https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census¬
recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E (accessed 16 August 2020).
5° Educational Profile of Canada, 2006 Census, Statistics Canada, 2008, Textual Records,
no. 97-560, LAC. Last Modified 28 September 2016, https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82¬
229-x/2009001/envir/hsg-eng.htm (accessed 16 August 2020).
60 Census Profile, 2016 Census, Statistics Canada, 2017.
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