The nation of Canada, which arises in 1867 from several British colonies, only gains its de facto independence from Great Britain in 1931. Its political structure is shaped by differences between the French-speaking population, concentrated in the province of Québec, and the Anglo-Canadian majority, from which is derived most of the country’s political elite. Dependent upon continuous immigration, Canada nevertheless pursues a restrictive policy until the 1960s, based on economic, national and – in part – openly racist criteria.

Since 1923 the immigration authorities have distinguished between “desirable” and “undesirable” immigrants. The latter are Asians, who are prohibited from entering the country by the Chinese Immigration Act, which is applied from 1923 until 1947. What is desired is the settlement of farmers from English-speaking countries as well as from Northern and Central Europe. Hence the primarily urban Central European Jews are effectively excluded. In 1930, as a result of the economic crisis and the devastating droughts in the Canadian prairie, immigration regulations are once again tightened.

The majority of the Canadian population rejects the admission of Jewish refugees in the 1930s. Among the Anglo-Canadian elites, latent antisemitism is rampant, while in French-speaking Québec open antisemitism determines the official policy of the reactionary clerical Union Nationale regime from 1936 on. Although the federal government expresses sympathy for European Jews, when given the chance it still does not allow refugees into the country. Domestically, Canada justifies its policy with its concern over national unity, since the province of Québec, which is pressing for autonomy, would never agree to generous immigration regulations for Jews. About the invitation to the Évian Conference, Canadian Prime Minister William MacKenzie King writes in his diary in March 1938 that Canada, with its great open spaces and small population, must take care not to be the “dog in the manger.” At the same time, one should, he writes, “seek to keep this part of the continent free from unrest and from too great an intermixture of foreign strains of blood.”

Between 1933 and 1945, fewer than 5,000 Jewish refugees find sanctuary in Canada, an extremely small number considering the size of the country. Hence, in today’s Canada, this period is viewed as the low point of Canadian immigration history. These experiences are one reason why Canada has developed one of the world’s most sustainable and liberal refugee policies since the mid 1960s.