Immigrants in Prairie Cities


Book Description

In Immigrants in Prairie Cities, Royden Loewen and Gerald Friesen analyze the processes of cultural interaction and adaptation that unfolded in these urban centres and describe how this model of diversity has changed over time.




Canadian Perspectives on Immigration in Small Cities


Book Description

This book examines immigration to small cities throughout Canada. It explores the distinct challenges brought about by the influx of people to urban communities which typically have less than 100,000 residents. The essays are organized into four main sections: partnerships, resources, and capacities; identities, belonging, and social networks; health, politics, and diversity, and Francophone minority communities. Taken together, they provide a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary perspective on the contemporary realities of immigration to small urban locations. Readers will discover how different groups of migrants, immigrants, and Francophone minorities confront systemic discrimination; how settlement agencies and organizations develop unique strategies for negotiating limited resources and embracing opportunities brought about by changing demographics; and how small cities work hard to develop inclusive communities and respond to social exclusions. In addition, each essay includes a case study that highlights the topic under discussion in a particular city or region, from Brandon, Manitoba to the Thompson-Nicola Region in British Columbia, from Peterborough, Ontario to the Niagara Region. As a complement to metropolitan-based works on immigration in Canada, this collection offers an important dimension in migration studies that will be of interest to academics, researchers, as well as policymakers and practitioners working on immigrant integration and settlement.




The Canadian Prairies


Book Description

A history of the Canadian prairie provinces from the days of Native-European contact to the 1980s.




The Prairie West: Historical Readings


Book Description

This collection of 35 readings on Canadian prairie history includes overview interpretation and current research on topics such as the fur trade, native peoples, ethnic groups, status of women, urban and rural society, the Great Depression and literature and art.




Cultivating Connections


Book Description

In the late 1870s, thousands of Chinese men left coastal British Columbia and the western United States and headed east. For them, the Prairies were a land of opportunity; there, they could open shops and potentially earn enough money to become merchants. The result of almost a decade's research and more than three hundred interviews, Cultivating Connections tells the stories of some of Prairie Canada's Chinese settlers - men and women from various generations who navigated cultural difference. These stories reveal the critical importance of networks in coping with experiences of racism and establishing a successful life on the Prairies.




Invisible Immigrants


Book Description

Despite being one of the largest immigrant groups contributing to the development of modern Canada, the story of the English has been all but untold. In Invisible Immigrants, Barber and Watson document the experiences of English-born immigrants who chose to come to Canada during England’s last major wave of emigration between the 1940s and the 1970s. Engaging life story oral histories reveal the aspirations, adventures, occasional naïveté, and challenges of these hidden immigrants. Postwar English immigrants believed they were moving to a familiar British country. Instead, like other immigrants, they found they had to deal with separation from home and family while adapting to a new country, a new landscape, and a new culture. Although English immigrants did not appear visibly different from their new neighbours, as soon as they spoke, they were immediately identified as “foreign.” Barber and Watson reveal the personal nature of the migration experience and how socio-economic structures, gender expectations, and marital status shaped possibilities and responses. In postwar North America dramatic changes in both technology and the formation of national identities influenced their new lives and helped shape their memories. Their stories contribute to our understanding of postwar immigration and fill a significant gap in the history of English migration to Canada.




Immigration Canada


Book Description

Beyond the romanticized image of newcomers arriving as a “huddled mass” at Halifax’s Pier 21, understanding the reality and complexity of immigration today requires an expert guide. In the hands of scholar Augie Fleras, this intricate and ever-changing subject gets the attention it deserves with analysis of all aspects, including admission policies, the refugee processing system, the temporary foreign worker program, and the emergence of transnational identities. Given the unprecedented number of federal policy reforms of the past decade, such a roadmap is essential. Immigration Canada describes, analyzes, and reassesses immigration in a Canada that is rapidly changing, increasingly diverse, more uncertain, and globally connected. Drawing on the best Canadian and international scholarship, Fleras investigates related topics such as integration, identity, and multiculturalism, to consider immigration in a wider context. By thoroughly capturing the politics, patterns, and paradoxes of contemporary migration, this book rethinks the thorny issues and reframes the key debates.




A Diminished Roar


Book Description

The third instalment in Jim Blanchard’s popular history of early Winnipeg, A Diminished Roar presents a city in the midst of enormous change. Once the fastest growing city in Canada, by 1920 Winnipeg was losing its dominant position in western Canada. As the decade began, Winnipeggers were reeling from the chaos of the Great War and the influenza pandemic. But it was the divisions exposed by the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike which left the deepest marks. As Winnipeg wrestled with its changing fortunes, its citizens looked for new ways to imagine the city’s future and identity. Beginning with the opening of the magnificent new provincial legislature building in 1920, A Diminished Roar guides readers through this decade of political and social turmoil. At City Hall, two very different politicians dominated the scene. Winnipeg’s first Labour mayor, S.J. Farmer, pushed for more public services. His rival, Ralph Webb, would act as the city’s chief “booster” as mayor, encouraging U.S. tourists with the promise of “snowballs and highballs.” Meanwhile, promoters tried to rekindle the city’s spirits with plans for new public projects, such as a grand boulevard through the middle of the city, a new amusement park, and the start of professional horse racing. In the midst of the Jazz Age, Winnipeg’s teenagers grappled with “problems of the heart,” and social groups like the Gyro Club organized masked balls for the city’s elite.




Immigration and Settlement, 1870-1939


Book Description

Immigration and Settlement, 1870-1939 includes twenty articles organized under the following topics: the "Opening of the Prairie West," First Nations and the Policy of Containment, Patterns of Settlement, and Ethnic Relations and Identity in the New West. The second volume in the History of the Prairie West Series, Immigration and Settlement includes chapters on early immigration patterns including transportation routes and ethnic blocks, as well as the policy of containing First Nations on reserves. Other chapters grapple with the various identities, preferences, and prejudices of settlers and their complex relationships with each other as well as the larger polity.




Norwegians on the Prairie


Book Description

A pioneering study that examines the social, cultural, and religious development of Norwegian Americans in the agricultural communities of rural Minnesota.