Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
539 followers · 752 posts · Server historians.social

Well, one of the fun things about being at a / working in is that I get really neat public inquiries sometimes.

Today, I had one about how officials tested literacy in the 1920s. In the 1919 amendments (and in the Chinese Immigration Act), the language basically talks about immigrants of age having to read a short paragraph - but reading it in other languages was fine, it didn't have to be English or French.

Okay, so far so good.

#museum #publichistory #cdnimm #histodons #immigration

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
538 followers · 751 posts · Server historians.social

Looking up literacy items related to historical examination and selection practices and just stumbled across this gem:

"Three-year-old Jennifer Adair looks askance at the photographer interrupting her reading, Montreal."

That face! I feel like one of my teacup humans is a time traveler - or at least their attitude taps some kind of eternal cosmic stream...

central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirec

#cdnimm #archives #libraries #parenting

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
520 followers · 642 posts · Server historians.social

You know, in 1938, Canadian immigration representatives in Europe used a previous application to the US (even if abandoned) as a rationale to bar Jewish applications for admission.

(source in image)

#refugees #asylum #cdnimm #cdnhist

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
520 followers · 652 posts · Server historians.social

"[S]olidarity, rather than state sovereignty, is an alternative way of framing migration in more equitable terms. The concept of solidarity rejects the idea that any political entity can act independently; instead, it acknowledges the interdependencies between a wide variety of political actors..."

Bauder, From Sovereignty to Solidarity, p20.

#immigration #cdnimm

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
498 followers · 613 posts · Server historians.social

Today is the centenary of Canada's Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 - known colloquially as the Exclusion Act. It was in effect until 1947, and under it, a bare handful of Chinese immigrants were able to enter the country. Even after its repeal, Chinese immigration remained restricted for a further twenty years under broader anti-Asian restrictions. For this reason, Dominion or Canada Day was known as Humiliation Day among Chinese Canadians.

More: pier21.ca/before-and-after-192

#cdnhist #cdnimm #racism

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
498 followers · 613 posts · Server historians.social

Love this image from during the Komagata Maru incident. The dynamics here are instructive, I think.

City of Vancouver Archives,
CVA 141-1 - Komagata Maru incident in Vancouver Harbour

searcharchives.vancouver.ca/ko

#cdnimm #cdnhist #racism

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
498 followers · 613 posts · Server historians.social

One of my favourite NFB propaganda pieces on Canadian Immigration history...

"Farmers for Canada: Dutch Family Makes a New Start" - Eye Witness No. 53

nfb.ca/film/eye_witness_no53/

#cdnimm #cdnhist

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
487 followers · 590 posts · Server historians.social

Well, and nerds, what's a collections favouriite?

Mine: 5104.sydneyplus.com/final/port

This is a family that came from the Netherlands to Canada in 1957, and the visual representation of the voyage to Canada is just amazing.

#museum #archive #cdnimm #cdnhist

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
487 followers · 568 posts · Server historians.social

"Homesteading has been described as a gamble in which the entrant bets ten dollars with the Government against 160 acres of land, that he can stay on it six months each year for three years, without starving to death. If he succeeds, the patent or deed for the land is granted by the Government, provided certain small improvements are made, namely a small house and stable built, and 15 acres cultivated; if he does not succeed, he loses his ten dollars. And many did lose..."

-W.C. Pollard

#cdnimm

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
479 followers · 553 posts · Server historians.social

Today I am baking cinnamon buns at work while reading up on Portuguese immigration to Canada.

We're doing a little internal workshop on food & immigration, and part of it was the invitation to bring a food with a personal connection...

#publichistory #cdnimm #cdnhist

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
462 followers · 487 posts · Server historians.social

Every once in a while I am reminded that my job gave me the opportunity to give a stuffed flea in a ringmaster suit a glamorous photo shoot (oh, and also reflect on the value of the memoirs from immigration officers in the study of immigration history).

pier21.ca/blog/steve-schwingha

#museum #cdnimm #cdnhist #histodons

Last updated 1 year ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
446 followers · 440 posts · Server historians.social

Internship position for recent MAs or MA students, hosted by the Cdn Museum of Immigration:

12 June - 1 September 2023
$20.65/hr
On-site or remote

Full details:

pier21.ca/research-intern-12-w

#publichistory #oralhistory #museums #cdnimm

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
443 followers · 438 posts · Server historians.social

Claiming asylum is a universal human right.

Channels to claim asylum should be regular & appropriately controlled, so that asylum seekers may arrive and seek refuge in safety and security.

Attempting to bar asylum claims is counter to the expressed intention and language of international and domestic law.

Every person who is on Canadian soil, is protected by the Charter.

Do we want to dispose of Charter protections in favour of political convenience?

cbc.ca/news/politics/safe-thir

#cdnimm

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
439 followers · 419 posts · Server historians.social

It's time for to consider a targeted class of admission for SOGIE refugees / asylum claimants from the United States.

cbc.ca/news/world/north-dakota

#cdnimm

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
430 followers · 400 posts · Server historians.social

So this year is the centenary of Canada's Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, aka the Chinese Exclusion Act.

If you're looking for a little more information on that, I did a little contexualization piece here:

English:
pier21.ca/before-and-after-192

French:
quai21.ca/avant-et-apres-1923-

#cdnhist #cdnimm #racism

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
428 followers · 397 posts · Server historians.social

I went back to this old blog from 2021 for a quick reference today, and I thought I'd share it for all my history-and-bike nerds. It's part of a wonderful larger series of entries on biking written by historians co-hosted by ActiveHistory and NiCHE, led by Claire Campbell.

niche-canada.org/2021/10/06/in

#cdnhist #cdnimm #biketooter

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
428 followers · 396 posts · Server historians.social

Panel on the dialogue created by placing two exhibits on wartime civil liberties violations at the Canadian Museum of Immigration, 14 April @ 1400 Atlantic online.

people: book a ticket online (free) and go to the exhibits at the museum for free, too!

Panelists: Dan Conlin, Melanie Morin-Pelletier, Jordan Stanger-Ross, Sherri Kajiwara. I'll moderate & offer a response.

pier21.ca/internment-canada

#publichistory #halifax #cdnhist #cdnimm

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
421 followers · 372 posts · Server historians.social

Students of and , may I please recommend this study regarding the significance of language in public coverage of immigration issues?

aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257

Thanks to my brother @schwinghamer who brought it to my attention.

#immigration #politics #cdnimm #cdnpoli

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
416 followers · 393 posts · Server historians.social

Your daily reminder that there is a population of people who have fled Canada and are identified as either refugees or protected persons abroad by the UNHCR. It's a small group, but... we're a source country, too.

Check out the data:

unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/d

#refugees #cdnimm #cdnhist

Last updated 2 years ago

Steve Schwinghamer · @sps
415 followers · 437 posts · Server historians.social

Ilse went to the UK as part of the Kindertransport, was a veteran of service in the military during the Second World War, her brother (German Jewish) was sent from the UK to be interned in Canada as an enemy alien, and Ilse herself came to Canada via New York in 1947.

#cdnimm #cdnhist

Last updated 2 years ago