Why didn’t Canada recieve as many immigrants or more then America did?

[Lusitania]

Canada had 60,000 KIAs and 170,000 wounded in WWI- a tiny number compared to population

From a perspective of emigration yes since it was in the 20th century and Canada before war was receiving a very large amount of emigrants both for the central part of country to work in growing manufacturing as well as to the prairies for farming.

 

[Moriarty]

I think one reason hasn't been touched on though, why many were immigrating to start with and where they were coming from. Irish immigrants were trying to get out from under British rule, so why would they go to Canada and be right back under it? And a large portion of the German immigrants were protestants wanting to get away from Catholic rule early on, so America with it's religious freedoms is much more attractive than Canada split between English Anglicans and French Canadian Catholics. And lastly there is the reason of able to get there. The eastern seaboard of the US has many more major ports than eastern Canada which means there are a lot more ships arriving from Europe at the American ports, which in turn means more access to immigrate to America than Canada.

 

[Michael Skeet]

I think one reason hasn't been touched on though, why many were immigrating to start with and where they were coming from. Irish immigrants were trying to get out from under British rule, so why would they go to Canada and be right back under it?

The famine didn't just affect Catholics. A significant portion of Irish immigrants to Canada in the mid-19th century were Ulster Protestants. The Orange Lodge was a significant power in central Canadian politics for about a century. For that matter, Ulster Protestants came to Canada in significant numbers before the famine: I've read that Orange Lodges formed part of the opposition to the 1837 Rebellions.

 

[Michael Skeet]

My own approach to this question probably wouldn't pass muster on this forum, but it worked from a writer's perspective: my short story "Near Enough to Home" (anthologized several times in the late '90s) posited a POD of Napoleon dying on his way home from Egypt, and Great Britain taking (and holding) Louisiana as part of the treaties ending the wars of the French Revolution. As one result of this disruption the US Civil War began in 1850, at a time when the South was close enough to the North in terms of population and resources to gain independence and (so far, anyway: my timeline hasn't reached 1910 yet...) keep it. I should see if I can find those notes...

 

[Socrates]

I think one reason hasn't been touched on though, why many were immigrating to start with and where they were coming from. Irish immigrants were trying to get out from under British rule, so why would they go to Canada and be right back under it? And a large portion of the German immigrants were protestants wanting to get away from Catholic rule early on, so America with it's religious freedoms is much more attractive than Canada split between English Anglicans and French Canadian Catholics. And lastly there is the reason of able to get there. The eastern seaboard of the US has many more major ports than eastern Canada which means there are a lot more ships arriving from Europe at the American ports, which in turn means more access to immigrate to America than Canada.

Plenty of Irish went to Australia though.

I really think people are over complicating this. Most Europeans, outside Britain, in the 1800s were rural peasants. When they emigrated, they dreamed of their own plot of land. America had far more good land available than Canada. That explains 99% of it.

 

[Lusitania]

Plenty of Irish went to Australia though.

I really think people are over complicating this. Most Europeans, outside Britain, in the 1800s were rural peasants. When they emigrated, they dreamed of their own plot of land. America had far more good land available than Canada. That explains 99% of it.

If we imagine a Canada in the 19th century (1800-1850) that included the Ohio valley and efficient means to transport people to it through st Lawrence valley we would of seen a larger number and probably majority of British emigrants going to Canada.

I would even go further to say if the Selkirk settlement (start 1815) had prospered we would of seen continuous settlement each year of Scottish and even Irish people in the Red River area.

 

[Fiver]

I think one reason hasn't been touched on though, why many were immigrating to start with and where they were coming from. Irish immigrants were trying to get out from under British rule, so why would they go to Canada and be right back under it? And a large portion of the German immigrants were protestants wanting to get away from Catholic rule early on, so America with it's religious freedoms is much more attractive than Canada split between English Anglicans and French Canadian Catholics. And lastly there is the reason of able to get there. The eastern seaboard of the US has many more major ports than eastern Canada which means there are a lot more ships arriving from Europe at the American ports, which in turn means more access to immigrate to America than Canada.

I touched on some of these issues back in post 27, though you have expanded from what I said.