Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Attracting Newcomers To Canada’S Prairie West, 1896-1905: The Selling Of The West And The Persuasiveness Within The Government’S Promotional Booklets, Joshua L. Switzer

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

Abstract: The prairie west of Canada was, nearing the turn of the twentieth century, considered to be empty, having not yet reached its assimilatory, and resource, economic, social or cultural potential. Many politicians, especially Clifford Sifton, sought to change this. Sifton eventually made Canada’s population increase a reality. He masterminded the most successful promotional campaign within Canada’s immigration policy to ever stretch the parameters of inclusion for enlarging the Canadian mosaic. The largest phenomenon of human migration to the Canadian prairie west was between 1896 and 1905. Sifton’s intercontinental and overseas promotional campaign became the magnet of attraction for newcomers …