British Immigrants

British Immigrants

The beginning of the Second World War introduced a period of severe immigration restriction. Most of the immigrants from 1938 to 1945 were British or American. People who attempted to enter Canada at that time were refugees, and a few were wives and children of Canadian people. Jews faced tighter restrictions when they tried to enter Canada in the 1920s. During the Battle of Britain in the 1940s, Luftwaffe - the German air force - started bombing British cities, including London. This bombing campaign was one of the major causes of British immigration to Canada.
In 1775, a rebellion broke out in the Thirteen Colonies, the British settlements in what is now the United States. Many colonists were dissatisfied with the way Britain was treating the colonies, and decided to demand independence. However, not all the colonists joined the rebellion. Those who didn’t came to be known as Loyalists because they remained loyal to the British crown. By 1783, the rebel colonists had won the war of independence, and established a new country: The United States of America. Many Loyalists decided to leave the new country. Some returned to Britain, but about 50,000 migrated to the British colonies in Canada. They were Canada’s first refugee immigrants. A great many people left their homes in Britain and other counties of Europe. Economic conditions in Britain and most of Europe were poor in the years after 1815. There was a great deal of unemployment, made worse by the growing use of machines during the Industrial Revolution. Many of the migrants leaving Britain and Europe from 1815 to 1850 came to Canada. Sixty percent of these immigrants to Canada were British. This made them the largest cultural group in Canada.

Several immigrant groups had established themselves in Atlantic Canada by 1861. The main groups were British, French, and German, but there were also American Loyalists. A significant Black population had created a community in Nova Scotia. Shortly after...

Similar Essays