Strangers at Our Gates: Canadian Immigration and Immigration Policy, 1540–2006. Rev. ed.

James D. Cameron is an associate professor of history at St. Francis
Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

Knowles believes that immigration policy decisions will shape the future of our country, so she has produced a 12-chapter historical survey designed to help Canadians “participate actively and intelligently” in related debates. While describing “the different kinds of immigrants who have settled in this country over the centuries,” she gives special attention to “key policymakers and moulders of public opinion” as well as to the role played by racism.

The early chapters range across important themes—native migrations from Asia, French colonization efforts in Acadia and New France, the incursion of English settlers on the Atlantic coast, the migration of the Loyalists, and the “vast outpouring of humanity from Great Britain” after 1815, which “reinforced British customs and values.” Knowles also discusses assisted immigration, Irish immigration, the first government efforts at advertising and recruitment, land companies, and philanthropists.

After Confederation, her study highlights the contrasting roles of immigration ministers, such as Clifford Sifton and Frank Oliver. A “white Canada policy” was entrenched from 1867 to the 1950s. Canadian policy-makers ranked as most desirable British, northern European, and American immigrants. Knowles describes the seismic shift to a “colour blind” policy under Ellen Fairclough in 1962, the points system of 1967, and the official multicultural policy of 1971. She also reviews subsequent immigration policy reforms and challenges to the late 1990s, such as the search for an effective refugee determination system. Since the 1960s, immigrants increasingly come from Asia, Africa, and Latin America rather than Europe.

Her excellent final chapter—new to this third edition of her book—highlights significant recent developments: persisting debates about multiculturalism, refugee claimants, terrorism and security, the financial pressures imposed by immigration and integration on Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, the undervaluing of foreign work experience and credentials, the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2001), formation of the Canadian Border Services Agency (2004), and arguments for and against rising levels of immigration.

Knowles has produced a fine update of her informative and accessible narrative survey of Canadian immigration history. Her historical accounts of the clash of opinions about immigration are especially instructive. The chapters would be strengthened by concluding summaries and by systematic analysis of the impact of diverse immigrant groups. However, her study is much more concise, readable, and up-to-date than its more theoretically informed, academic peer study entitled The Making of the Mosaic (1998). First published in 1992, Strangers at Our Gates has become the standard popular introduction to Canadian immigration history.