Amending Canada's Immigration Policy Post-WWII
- Order-in-Council P.C. 2071, along with other policies, and mounting political pressure and recommendations led to the amendment of Canada's immigration policy, which was announced by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in the House of Commons on May 1, 1947.
- This is the official record of the Prime Minister's declaration of the new amendments to Canada's immigration policy, which helped shift Canadian law and opinions towards immigrants and refugees.
- This policy change was especially meaningful to Jews at this time as the new policy allowed European Jewish refugees to enter Canada through 'close relatives' and 'labour' provisions.
- Despite sounding somewhat progressive at the time, Prime Minister King's speech also sought to appease Canadians who were still doubtful of immigration by ensuring the number of immigrants would be related to the "absorptive capacity" of the economy (i.e. enough immigrants to meet labour shortages but not enough to disrupt the Canadian labour markets).
- However, despite some hope presented by this change in policy, many immigrants were still heavily discriminated against, especially non-white immigrants from outside of Europe, particularly Chinese immigrants.
- In PM King's speech he highlights that the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 would be repealed, but made it clear that there would not be any large-scale immigration from Asia.
- As a result, only Chinese residents of Canada who were not already citizens could apply for naturalization and once naturalized, they could bring their wives and unmarried children (under 18) over to Canada.
- He reinforced Canada's right to discriminate which immigrants it accepts in order not to alter the 'character' of Canada's population.
Citation
Canada. Parliament. House of Commons Debates. Immigration: Statement of Prime Minister as to Canada's Policy. 20th Parliament, 3rd sess., vol 3. May 1, 1947 (William Lyon Mackenzie King, Prime Minister; President of the Privy Council, Liberal). Accessed on July 27, 2022. https://www.lipad.ca/full/1947/05/01/1/
Overlapping Topics
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship
Policy Sub-Topic
Policy Type
Hansard