Mythology, traditions and history - The Clan Macfie Society

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4. The population in Canada with a Scotch or an Irish background is difficult to
determine. The Census takers asked my parents this question and my family in the first period
of the twentieth century was expected to choose regardless of the fact that, biologically, we
were Scotch, Irish, English, French and Dutch in the origins of our parents.
A study of series of tables in our Census up to 1850 indicates that, by and large, Scotland
produced almost as many colonists as did Ireland to the total Canadian scene. Newfoundland,
New Brunswick and Quebec absorbed more Irish colonists, while Noya Scotia and P.E. Island
favored the Scot. When the west began to grow the Scot led the Irish, but, of course, it was not
any of the British Isles who helped the heavy increases in population - Germans,
Scandinavians, French, Ukranians filled our boats and trains west of Ontario.
One of the surprising events in the growth of Canada was the extent to which Americans
moved to Canada. In the Canada Year Book, 1911, Second Series, pp. 398, a table shows that
from 1906 to 1911, a period of six years, 524,305 immigrated from U.S. to Canada. This was a
period in which Alberta and Saskatchewan were moved into a provincial status and in which
hundreds of thousands came from eastern Europe to make Canada a bread basket.
5. Cowan, in Table III reports immigrants to the Maritime provinces, for the period
1853-60, when, presumably, the origins of the passengers were indicated. 1
Nova Scotia/Cape Breton, 410 persons Newfoundland, 137 persons
New Brunswick, 251 persons Hudson Bay, 237 persons
Prince Edward Island, 311 persons
6. TABLE
SCOTCH EMIGRATION TO CANADA 2
1900 1,476 1910 29,920 1920 19,248
1901 2,853 1911 32,988 1921 11,506
1902 1,046 1912 30,735 1922 11,071
1903 10,552 1913 29,128 1923 25,057
1904 11,144 1914 8,346 1924 16,174
1905 15,846 1915 1,887 1925 10,295
1906 10,729(8 mos.) 1916 2,062 1926 14,296
1907 22,233 1917 473 1927 14,341
1908 11,810 1918 1,518 1928 10,137
1909 14,705 1919 10,997 1929 18,640
108,985 148,058 161854
There are substantial differences from year to year but the averages of 11,000, 15,000 and
16,000 per year indicates an acceptance of Canada by the Scots as a new home.
1 Cowan, H.I.- Op cit., p. 288-290
2 Dept. of Citizenship; Immigration, Ottawa, Table IV