Laurier House National Historic Site of Canada

IMMIGRATION FROM 1896 (LAURIER) to 1947 (KING)

I: About the lesson

About the lesson

Locating the site

Map of Eastern Ontario/ Western Quebec
©Parks Canada

Visiting the site

II: Setting the scene : Immigration: 1896-1947 An Overview

III: Figuring out the facts : Readings

1. The Great Boom of 1900 to 1913
2. Immigration, the Railroad, and the West
3. Chinese Immigrants
4. Mackenzie King and the Plight of Jewish Refugees
5. i) Clifford Sifton, Minister of the Interior: Peasant in a Sheep-skin
   Coat, and ii) Stephen Leacock: The Immigration Problem
6. Status of Aliens in the Canadian Citizenship Act (1947)

IV: Visual Evidence

1. Cartoon The Canadian West: An Irresistible Attraction
2. Photograph of immigrant homestead in the West
3. Photograph of Doukhobor settlement in Manitoba
4. Publications distributed by the government to attract immigrants to
   Canada
5. Canadian National Railway timetable promoting excursions to the West
6. Photograph of people denied entry to Canada
7. Photograph of Head Tax Certificate (1925)
8. Photograph of Mackenzie King with Canadian Citizenship Certificate (1947)

V: Putting it All Together : Activities

1. Compare and contrast: an account of the Conscription crisis of 1917 by an English-Canadian historian and one written by a French-Canadian historian.
2. Discussion of 1917 editorial: What would you think of this war if you had grown up in Quebec? If you had grown up in English-Canada?
3. War Letters: research old war letters, and write a description of life at the front.

VI: Supplementary Resources