05/19/2025
I try to imagine what it would take for me to leave the land of my birth and everything behind to go to a new country. What would be the exact ratio of fear, hope, regret, joy to lead me, to convince me, and my wife and family to say goodbye, buy the steamship ticket and sail away?. It is too much to contemplate yet that is exactly what my Wadland and Woods ancestors did.
It is within a maelstrom of Canadian nation building (see below) that, between 1848 and 1920 both sets of grandparents for my biological father Allen George Wadland as well as for my stepfather Raymond Archibald Woods made the transatlantic voyage to start a new life in Canada. There were numerous ports on the coasts of the coasts of England, Scotland, and Finland for immigrants like them to leave by steamship. The ships would take on average 2 weeks and would dock on the East coast of Canada (typically Halifax or New Brunswick or further down the St. Lawrence at Quebec City) or on the East coast of the U.S. (predominantly New York). As an aside ship manifests and Canadian census data are essential first look tools for the genealogist tracking the names, ages, religion, education of the incoming immigrants as well as their vocation in the country they came from, their anticipated vocation in Canada, where their final destination was in Canada, and who their Canadian contact person was.
While my ancestors’ personal reasons for migrating are lost to time Canadian history gives clues as to what situations, messages, incentives and inducements my ancestors likely influenced probably the most momentous decision of their lives. First though, some Canadian history as related to immigration is necessary to provide context.
Throughout the 17th and the first ½ of the 18th century our country’s European colonial overseers (the British and the French) didn’t consider long term settlement a priority. Immigration and settlement to Canada (which at that time was British North America’s Upper Canada and the French’s Lower Canada all in Eastern Canada. Unsurprisingly most incoming setters were predominantly British or French. Others came though; the Scots (Nova Scotia=New Scotland), Germans and Swiss settlers followed as did the Irish “navvies” (starting in 1840). United Empire Loyalists, black and white displaced by the American Revolution ending in 1783, streamed up through and settled in Upper Canada. From the countries of Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine many people immigrated to Canada to be able to farm on the prairies. Starting in the 1800s these farmers left their countries and settled in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. This occurred before Canadian federation, organically and naturally, but haphazardly with no real forward thinking plan or oversight. In 1867 things started to change including the form, structure, and aims of immigration.
In 1867, Canada, as we know it, was formed through Confederation, which took effect on July 1st (hence Canada Day). This pivotal moment united the Province of Canada, of Nova Scotia, and of New Brunswick into the Dominion of Canada under the British North America Act. At this time, Canada consisted of only four provinces: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Confederation marked the beginning of our country as a self-governing entity, even though we were still part of the British Empire. Regardless there was a rising and swelling tide of Canadian nationalism a desire to become complete. Manitoba entered Confederation July 15, 1870 and British Columbia on July 20, 1871. The province of Prince Edward Island, which hosted the first meeting to consider Confederation, the Charlottetown Conference, joined Confederation in 1873. Saskatchewan and Alberta joined in 1905.
Sandwiched amidst all of the nation building activities was the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railroad (C.P.R.). Chinese immigration surged. The railway was first built between Eastern (Upper) Canada and British Columbia between 1875 and 1885 fulfilling a commitment extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871; the C.P.R was Canada's first transcontinental railway. Primarily a freight railway, the C.P.R was for decades the only practical means of long-distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada. As such it became instrumental in the Canadian governments push to colonize and develop Western Canada. The stage was set, and the political and economic demand was quickly increasing, for a new plan to lure immigrants to our country to help us grow.
Simply put there is a push- pull model that explains immigration. The push is what potential immigrants experience in their home country. As a general rule of thumb people immigrate due to any combination of political instability, economic instability or downturns, economic opportunities, the desire to escape poverty, civil wars and political upheaval, religious persecution and to join kin who have already immigrated. One’s chosen new country may be attractive because of its similar climate or conditions and specific employment opportunities.
The pull is what messages or inducements the interested country can offer the potential immigrant. By the mid 19th c when my Woods and Wadland ancestors started to migrate here Canada’s recruitment strategy involved a combination of government promotion, railway support, and immigration agents in the UK to attract settlers from specific countries (mainly European) to the western prairies to help build the new nation.
The Canadian government:
• heavily promoted throughout the UK, homesteading opportunities in the Western Provinces describing them as a place of opportunity, an “Agricultural El Dorado”, for farmers (a vocation familiar to my Wadland ancestors) highlighting the fertile land and potential for economic success.
• Facilitated land claims and encouraging settlement in the Western regions of Canada via government initiatives like the Dominion Lands Act. In order to settle the area, Canada invited mass emigration by European and American pioneers, and by settlers from eastern Canada. It echoed the American homestead system by offering ownership of 160 acres of land free (except for a small registration fee) to any man over 18 or any woman heading a household. They did not need to be British subjects, but had to live on the plot and improve it.
• Recruited heavily. The Canadian government collaborated with railway companies (like the C.P.R.) to produce brochures and pamphlets to advertise the opportunities in Canada to potential immigrants. These opportunities and services focused on free or subsidized passage to get to Canada then, when here, efficient and fast cross westward travel to reach their new homestead. Canadian immigration agents were on-site, stationed in Europe, actively recruiting immigrants and providing them with information about Canada.
• Targeted specific desired groups of immigrants. In the mid to late 1800s Canada deliberately focused efforts on courting immigrants like landless farmers, agricultural laborers, loggers, and domestic servants. By the early 1900s recruitment efforts broadened to target immigrant laborers (to work on the railroads and in factories) and agricultural workers specifically to the Prairie Provinces. Initially Canada focused on British and American settlers, then to Northern and Central Europeans, then to Eastern Europeans.
• Supported chain migration. Family members already in Canada could sponsor relatives to migrate contributing to the growth of certain migrant communities.
• Used Government sponsored programs. Some immigrants came to Canada on government- sponsored contracts to work in industries facing labour shortages, like the railroads.
• Used some pretty canny marketing inducements. Very often, when looking at the manifests of ships transporting my Wadland or Woods kin to their new lives in Canada I see the designation “British Bonus Allowed”. What does this mean?
The laws of the time in many European countries forbade open encouragement of immigration by any foreign country. The “British Bonus” was a subtle marketing tool developed by the Canadian government to encourage UK and European overseas steamship booking agents to recruit the suitable desirable ticket buying settlers that the Canadian government wanted and needed. The immigrants themselves did not receive the bonus, although those who settled on western homesteads did receive a separate monetary bonus upon proof of settlement.
The British Bonus came into effect on September 27, 1890. This system remained in effect until April 1, 1906 with the exception that in later years it applied to immigrants to eastern as well as Western Canada.
The stamp "British Bonus Allowed" was stamped against the name of applicable passengers on manifests. Other, similar, notations included "C.G.E.A. which was the abbreviation for the Canadian Government Employment Agent (these agents received a commission from the government for placing newly-arrived immigrants with employers who were seeking laborers or domestics; and "Continental Bonus" which was established in 1882 and were similar to the British Bonus but applied to emigrants from the European mainland.
By most statistics I’ve read, the Canadian government’s immigration strategies, adapted to changing times and circumstances, were pretty successful. The prairies were settled, we gained the human capital needed for our factories, to build our railroad, and to build our middle and working classes, all while laying the groundwork for the multicultural society that is Canada. Personally, from a genealogical perspective, I am equally in awe of the bravery my Wadland and Woods kin showed to leave their home country and of their contributions, when they got here, to building a strong caring Canada. I stand, with respect, on their strong shoulders.
