Wilfrid Laurier’s immigration policies

Wilfrid Laurier was the principal architect of what became one of his most significant projects as prime minister: the settlement of the Canadian west. In 1896 Clifford Sifton, minister of the interior, initiated an ambitious promotional campaign to attract farmers from Europe and America to settle in Canada. Overall, the annual number of immigrants to Canada rose from 16,835 in 1896, to 55,747 in 1901, and to 141,465 in 1905. With its ever-increasing population of immigrants, the west produced up to 80 per cent of the entire Canadian output of wheat, which was being exported in unprecedented quantities. Nevertheless, there were critics pointing to the difficulty of integrating newcomers into Canadian society and the social problems connected with immigration. Sifton’s successor, Frank Oliver, brought in bills to make immigration policy more selective and reinforce the government’s powers of exclusion and deportation. Under his administration, immigration reached unprecedented levels, yet his admission policies were narrowly restrictive, reflecting the nativist and assimilationist values of the majority culture.