Hungarian Immigration to Canada
It will soon be three decades since Hungarian Canadians celebrated the centenary of their beginnings in Canada. Following the advent of the first Hungarian immigrants in the Canadian West in 1885, the group has sustained many transitions and transformations. It has matured from mere small, rural communities of peasant immigrants into a highly urbanized, socially and culturally assorted ethnic group found in all walks of life across Canada. In term of numbers, Canadians of Hungarian origin have risen from a few thousand, at the turn of the century, to over 300,000 by the time of the 2006 census.
The arrival of the major waves of Hungarian immigrants to this country can be divided into three chronological periods: 1885-1914, 1921-1940, and 1949-1956. The earliest stretch can be delineated by the establishment of Hungarian colonies on the prairies by peasant settlers; their motives fuelled by discontent with the lack of agrarian reform in Hungary and hopes for economic prosperity in the West.
Europe Simulator
Romania, Germany, Canada, Hungary
The last, last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railw...The second phase of immigration, the interwar period, can be characterized by the arrival of a more socially diverse group of newcomers driven by unwanted post-World War I social and political vicissitudes and facilitated by the relaxing of Canadian admission regulations opposed to restricted American quotas. Clear determinants of the last and greatest wave are political upheavals stemming from repercussions of World War II and Canada's generous refugee acceptance policy in the midst of mayhem.
Rationalization of Hungarian immigration to Canada and mere emigration in general can only be consummated by the examination of a broad spectrum of social and economic factors relevant to the context of each phase. This is what I shall attempt to do with respect to each period of immigration studied. Regarding the differences among the three immigration periods, it appears justified...