The Cold War and Economic
Boom & Bust: 1950-1960

By 1950 the supply of immigrants could not fill the booming Canadian economy’s needs. The government therefore made provisions to widen admissible classes of European immigrants in June 1950. This reform maintained the preference for British, Irish, French, and American immigrants all believed to be suited to the climatic, educational, social, industrial, and labour environment of Canada. In practice it meant many residents of Canada (excluding Asians) could sponsor relatives. This enabled a variety of semi-skilled and skilled immigrants, including domestics, agriculturalists, entrepreneurs, and professionals, and any other workers sponsored by a Canadian employer to come to Canada.

Special Arrangements:

Source: Immigration and Population Statistics. Ottawa: Manpower and Immigration, 1974.

In 1951 the Canadian government signed agreements with the governments of India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Under these arrangements Canada agreed to accept limited numbers of immigrants from these newly-independent countries: 150 nationals of India, 100 nationals of Pakistan, and fifty nationals of Ceylon were to be admitted to Canada annually. Also, the scheme of assisted passage was introduced in 1951. The provision of loans, to be repaid within a two-year period, to ease the expense of overseas transportation enabled select immigrants in straitened financial circumstances to come to Canada. As well, the government began making amendments to the Immigration Act, (previously unaltered in any great form since 1910), which culminated in the Immigration Act of 1952. In addition, the Canadian government required all immigrants to have passports and visas in 1953. The government introduced quotas for Caribbean domestic workers in 1955, and West Indian and Greek women could enter Canada in limited numbers.

Personal recollection about assisted passage

Immigration Act of 1952:

In 1952 the federal government passed an amended Immigration Act. It established the rights of admission to Canada for prospective immigrants as well as illegal immigrants already in Canada. The most important part of the Act, Section 61, enabled the Governor in Council to prohibit, or admit, immigrants on the basis of nationality, including ethnic background and geographical area of origin; ‘peculiar customs’ including habits, modes of life, or ‘unusual’ means of holding property; climatic, educational, economic or industrial suitability; and the probable likelihood of becoming rapidly assimilated in Canadian society. This Act was particularly important because it provided broad, and widely interpretive, powers for the Minister of Immigration and his officials. This act maintained the premise that admission to Canada was a privilege rather than a right, and that Canadian manpower needs should dictate the acceptance of immigrants. Asian immigrants were only admitted to Canada if: a wife, husband, or an unmarried child under twenty-one years of age of a Canadian citizen resident in Canada with the means to care for dependants. Under this Act, the Minister had the personal authority to approve or veto the admission of any immigrant to Canada. The Minister could also overturn the decisions of the independently established Appeals Board. This scenario quickly created a mountain of paperwork from disgruntled intending applicants in both Canada and overseas.

Crowds queue up outside the Canadian government Immigration office at 61 Green Street in London, England, during the 1956 immigration rush.

The sponsorship system was one very popular method of circumventing the difficulties of this Act. Canadian residents sponsored thousands of dependent relatives, many of whom were destined for Toronto, Ontario. Toronto consistently received over 50 per cent of all arriving immigrants. Certain ethnic groups were more likely to sponsor relatives than others. Over 90 per cent of Italians were sponsored relatives, and Italians became the ethnic group with the highest overall rate of sponsored immigration. Among some native-born Canadians a concern arose over the large number of arriving semi-skilled immigrants who they feared would lower the working wage and create ghetto-like slums in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Until 1957 non-white, non-European immigrants composed only about 5 per cent of immigrants.

Total Immigrant Arrival

1950s Refugees:

Hungarian refugee child upon arrival in Canada circa 1957

The power of ministerial discretion at this time is demonstrated by the Liberal government’s decision between 1956 and 1957 to admit over 37,000 Hungarian refugees, who were fleeing from a violent revolution in their homeland. Little selectivity was practised in the granting of entry visas as the usual medical restrictions were eased, and the Canadian government provided free transportation to refugees by air and by sea. The federal and provincial governments co-operated in making special arrangements to provide financial and medical assistance for these refugees. Canada’s trend towards increasing urbanisation and industrialisation made the cities a popular destination. Hungarian refugees settled disproportionately in Canada’s urban centres despite the government’s attempts to disperse them across Canada. British Columbia, for example, received the entire forestry faculty of the University of Sopran, a group of more than 300. After the election of 1957 when John Diefenbaker’s Conservatives came to power, Canada’s refugee policy was dramatically amended. Greater efforts were made to distinguish legitimate political refugees from those seeking to improve their economic circumstances. This created a decrease in refugees admitted to Canada coincident with an economic downturn. In 1959-60, World Refugee Year encouraged world-wide acceptance of refugees. The result included relaxed immigration controls, which permitted large numbers of refugees with diverse occupational skills to enter Canada.

Personal Recollection from a 1954 Immigrant Experience

Canada admitted a record number of immigrants in 1957 because of the Suez crisis which brought 108,989 British immigrants to Canada, the arrival of a large number of Hungarian refugees, and the effects of the swelling sponsored movement. The advent of the 1957-58 economic recession led to increased criticism of the sponsorship system, and the complaint that immigrants flooded the semi-skilled labour market. In an attempt to curb family-sponsored immigration, Ellen Fairclough, the new immigration minister, made several amendments to existing legislation. Fairclough declared amnesty for all illegal aliens resident in Canada in August of 1958. In March of 1959 Fairclough endorsed an order-in-council, PC 1959/310, which restricted the entry of non-dependent relatives. This policy elicited an angry response from Italian, Greek, and Portuguese individuals and organisations. In support of her policy, Fairclough pointed out that the existing sponsorship system was discriminatory because it created a situation in which it was almost impossible for well qualified immigrants to have their applications considered precisely because they were not in the sponsored category.

Immigration policy was no more certain at the end of this period than it had been at the outset. It resembled earlier periods in that significant weight was given to economic matters and that the old ‘preferred’ immigrants remained at the top of the list. This period was distinctive for its new emphasis upon social and humanitarian considerations, and for the influence of certain ethnic groups upon government decisions. The great increase in sponsored immigration remained the legacy of this period.

Photo of Italian Immigrants - 1959