Emphasis on Farmers

The Canadian government was desperate to attract farmers to the western prairies so that it could develop and settle this part of the country. It tried to encourage people from Great Britain to come. Unfortunately, Britain was only willing to send those people who were inexperienced farmers and these people found it difficult to acquire the money needed to start and operate a farm in Canada successfully. By 1896, Canada was only able to attract 300,000 immigrants to the country. At the same time between 1881 and 1891, more than 300,000 people left Canada for other nations, primarily the United States of America. Something needed to change in Canadian immigration policy!

In 1896, a new Minister of the Interior responsible for immigration was appointed by the Canadian government. His name was Clifford Sifton. He continued the government’s attempt to attract farmers to Canada. He decided to look for immigrant farmers in eastern European countries near Russia and also in the United States. The government hoped that these people would have more farming experience and would understand the difficult growing conditions in Canada. It believed that the conditions in their home countries were not any better. In later years, the government would restrict immigration to only those individuals who were suited for farming.

It was the government’s attractive homestead policy that was the major factor in attracting immigrant farmers to Canada.