Responding to Immigrants' Settlement Needs: The Canadian Experience

Description

While much has been written about Canada’s modern settlement program and there is a growing body of research and analysis of the settlement and integration successes and challenges of recent years, there is virtually no literature that has addressed the history of settlement services since the beginning of immigration to Canada. Some survey histories of Canadian Immigration have touched on elements of settlement policy but no history of services to immigrants in Canada has been published heretofore. Responding to Immigrants’ Settlement Needs: The Canadian Experience addresses this gap in the historiography of Canadian Immigration. From the tentative steps taken by the pre-Confederation colonies to provide for the needs of arriving immigrants, often sick and destitute, through the provision of accommodation and free land to settlers of a century ago, to today’s multi-faceted settlement program, this book traces a fascinating history that provides an important context to today’s policies and practices. It also serves to remind us that those who preceded us did, indeed, care for immigrants and did much to make them feel welcome in Canada. The Canadian experience in integration, over the past two centuries, suggests many policy-related research themes for further exploration both in Canada and in other immigrant receiving countries. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Pre-Confederation Settlement Activities....Pages 1-5 Post-Confederation Settlement Activities to 1945....Pages 7-17 The Settlement Service and the Citizenship Branch....Pages 19-26 Creation of the Settlement Program....Pages 27-33 Constitutional Issues and Settlement in Québec....Pages 35-37 Repatriation of the Settlement Program....Pages 39-41 Program Review and Settlement Renewal....Pages 43-47 Solving the Funding Issues....Pages 49-53 Foreign Credential Recognition....Pages 55-57 Emerging Issues and the New Terms and Conditions....Pages 59-63 Summary and Conclusion....Pages 65-68 Back Matter....Pages 69-91