Oldal 108 [108]
OCR
BALÁZS VENKOVITS While more than 200,000 Hungarians arrived in the country in 1907 alone, after 1924 the maximum number who could immigrate legally was capped at 473. Ihe push factors of emigration, however, did not cease, thus Hungarians began to look for alternatives and Canada was one of the most promising. CANADA OPENS ITS GATES: HUNGARIANS IN CANADA UNTIL THE 1920s Canada was already a destination for emigrants at the turn of the century. However, it was seen as a compromised destination: it was attractive due to the benefits offered by the Canadian government, however the difficulties with settlement were also often emphasized, especially in comparison with the United States. In fact, at the beginning of the period of New Immigration, more people left Canada (for the US) than immigrated there." Ihis happened despite the belief in Canada also that immigrants would play a key role in the development of the western provinces. The first immigration act was passed in 1869 and was amended gradually, excluding the entry of criminals or other nonpreferred people. Based on the Dominion Lands Act of 1872 any male head of family of at least 21 years of age could obtain 160 acres of pubic homestead for a USD 10 registration fee and six months’ residence for the for first three years of the claim.'® The program itself failed as only a few people took this opportunity, but other measures targeted at specific immigration groups proved to be more successful. The government also began to build up the infrastructure needed to make sure that the immigrants reached the eventual place of settlement in the West cheaply and safely.!? The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed in 1886, a network of immigration halls was established, and the great plains of the US became more or less full, thus emigrants were looking for possible new destinations. Ihis coincided with the policies of Minister of the Interior Clifford Sifton, which were aimed at populating the western prairies, popularized through the image of the “Last Best West.” This also involved the use of immigration propaganda to attract more people into the country. Canada primarily preferred immigrants from Great Britain, the United States, and Northern Europe (especially those with capital and agricultural skills).2° However, Sifton also encouraged immigration from Central and Eastern Europe.” To attract more people, immigration agents were employed Powell, Encyclopedia, 45. 13 Tbid., 46. Robert Vineberg, Responding to Immigrants’ Settlement Needs: The Canadian Experience, Dordrecht, Springer, 2012, 8. Valeria Knowles, Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540-2006. Toronto, Dundurn, 2007, 69. Vineberg, Settlement Needs, 11 and also N.F. Dreisziger, et al., Struggle and Hope: The Hungarian-Canadian Experience, Toronto, McClelland, 1982, 62. + 106 +
