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similar to the situation in the United States. Moreover, while Sifton had
preferred the “stalwart peasants in sheepskin coats” from Eastern and Central
Europe, his successor Frank Oliver supported mostly British and American
immigration, and members of the East-Central European group were often
considered undesirable. The Immigration Act of 1906 barred a broad spectrum
of individuals (prostitutes, “mentally retarded” people or those afflicted
with a contagious disease), introduced stricter control of the Canada-US
border, specified the amount of “landing money” immigrants had to have in
their possession, regulated the deportation of prohibited immigrants, etc.
The Immigration Act of 1910 brought even more restrictions and gave the
government unlimited discretionary powers to regulate the volume, ethnic
origin, and occupational composition of immigration, and it provided the
necessary machinery to encourage some immigrants and virtually exclude
others. Meanwhile, other measures were aimed at limiting the number of
immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe, which reflected a dislike of
people coming from this region. The measures curbed Asian immigration
successfully, but the wave from Eastern and Central Europe continued until
the First World War.
The First World War halted immigration to Canada as well. In 1915 only
36,665 people arrived (the lowest number in the era) and even three-quarters of
these people came from the United States.” Similar fears and restrictions about
enemy aliens and nativist sentiment had emerged, as in the United States; this
affected non-naturalized Hungarians as well, some of whom were even placed
in internment camps, while those arriving after 1902 were disenfranchised
in 1917.°° “The opposition to immigration from central and eastern Europe
was promoted by leading educators, journalists, and politicians, who took
the view that immigrants from that part of Europe resisted assimilation into
mainstream Canadian society and that encouraging their immigration only
led to the ‘balkanization’ of Canada.”*' The initial reactions of the two North
American countries were similar, however, after the war the United States
completely ended East-Central European emigration with the quota system,
while Canada opened its gates and offered new opportunities for people from
previously non-preferred countries.
The quotas introduced in the United States impacted Canadianimmigration
in different ways. As noted above, they did not apply to people born in Canada,
thus many traveled south, which in itself had a negative impact on the
Canadian labor market. At this point some (including Clifford Sifton) began
to argue again that “stalwart peasants” were required in Western Canada, and
they should be brought immediately from “Central Europe, particularly from
2° Knowles, Strangers at Our Gates, 127.
30 Patrias, Hungarians in Canada, 8.
31 Knowles, Strangers at Our Gates, 136.
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