Social Studies 9

 

So what caused the Great Migration of Canada?

There were a number of factors at work that just happened to peak at the same time.

1. Firstly, the American War of Independence (1775-1783). Not all Americans during the War for Independence, wanted independence and many loyalists left America during and after the American Revolution. The British offered freedom to any slave who would join the British troops and 3500 of them came and settled in Nova Scotia. First Nation loyalists who were worried about the loss of land if the British lost, moved to Canada and of course there were many Americans who did not favour independence from Britain, whose position in America became untenable.
2. Britain was in the middle of an Industrial and Agricultural Revolution. People were being squeezed out of the countryside and a rural employment and moving to the towns. It wasn’t always easy to find work though in an increasingly mechanized workplace. Conditions and pay were poor and labourers felt a sense of exploitation.
But industrial revolution was not just confined to Britain, Europe, America and Canada were also in the throws of industrial change.
3.Skilled workers were sought after and tempting offers were made to British workers to take their chances at earning a good living in a new land and they took it.

4.In Britain, the end of the Napoleonic Wars released an enormous number of men onto the streets looking for work, just at the time when employment opportunities were stretched very thinly. Enclosure and mechanization of cottage industries such as weaving, meant more people were out of work and struggling to feed their families.
5. The mines in the south west of England were becoming depleted and families were moving en mass to other areas to find work. Some moved to the north of England others took their chance overseas.
6. In Britain the cursed Corn Laws forced the price of bread ever upwards and in Ireland, the horror of the potato famine gave people no choice but to leave and start over again somewhere else.

What happened after the period of the Great Migration of Canada?

• Over 400,000 British people settled in Canada
• Many were enticed with the offer of cheap or free land, this upset those settled already
• The British population outnumbered the French and spilled over into French territories causing problems
• The problems between the French and English became ever more convoluted and political

 Pioneer Life: worksheet
 

Intriguing Connections:

1. Some migrating families were used to moving around and with cheap carriage on logging ships to be had, some travelled back home quite often, perhaps to escape the cold Canadian winters! Keeping track of their movements can be difficult, artefacts in the form of letters home or by way of introduction, military objects such as cap badges, can all pinpoint movements between census years. So they may have emigrated to Canada in the first instance but could turn up in Australia further down the line.

For more background and useful information on Canadian family history and family trees, follow the links.

To explore further Canadian posts, artefacts and useful resources and sources then go to Intriguing Family History

Example of houses early settlers built: