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Showing papers in "British Journal of Canadian Studies in 2009"







Journal Article
TL;DR: Barrington Walker as discussed by the authors presents a collection of essays on immigration and racism in Canada, with introductory chapters, succinct overviews of each section, annotated guides to further reading, and lists of relevant internet sources.
Abstract: Barrington Walker (ed.), The History of Immigration and Racism in Canada: Essential Readings (Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 2008), 304pp. Paper. £22.99. ISBN 9781551303406. Maria A. Wallis and Siu-ming Kwok (eds), Daily Struggles: The Deepening Racialization and Feminization of Poverty in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 2008), 307pp. Paper. £22.99. ISBN 9781551303390. These two books focus on different aspects of racism in Canada. One takes a historical perspective and the other deploys sociological approaches to examine contemporary Canada. They are both based upon previously published material and are organised as undergraduate student texts, with introductory chapters, succinct overviews of each section, annotated guides to further reading, and lists of relevant internet sources. The publisher's website (http://www.cspi.org) provides a link to sets of questions for tutors or students which might provide a basis for essays or class discussion. Barrington Walker's collection on immigration and racism is organised on broadly chronological lines with its first section beginning with the pre-European period and running to about the end of the eighteenth century and its last section bringing the reader to the end of the twentieth century. At the outset Walker argues that 'issues of race and immigration are not merely obscure sub-fields in Canada's social and cultural histories, but are integral to understanding the country's history as a whole' (p. 11). Part I begins with a chapter by Olive Dickason about the history of the Indigenous peoples prior to contact with Europeans. Other chapters include accounts of slavery in English Canada during the late eighteenth century (Robin Winks) and the experiences of Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia. Part II is thematically organised around the concepts of racialisation and space, including a chapter on the segregation of black students in Canada West in the nineteenth century and another on government responses to Chinese immigrants. Part III begins with a chapter outlining the ways in which the Canadian government allocated land for farming by First Nations and then impeded their agricultural development. The remaining three chapters cover urban developments and include discussion of the political context of industrial action and anti-semitism. The key metaphor for Part IV is 'gatekeeping', in particular with regard to immigration policies at the beginning of the twentieth century. Two chapters here, with contrasting arguments, analyse the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. Part V, on the postwar era, is mainly about the experiences of women workers in the latter part of the twentieth century. Dionne Brand draws upon oral history to recount the experiences of Black women (1920s to the 1940s), while Franca Iacovetta covers the transitions of immigrants from agricultural southern Italy to postwar Toronto, and Daiva Stasiulis and Abigail Bakan provide a comparative analysis of West Indian and Filipina women's experiences of domestic work in Toronto. …

21 citations




Journal Article
TL;DR: Thraves et al. as discussed by the authors published a 20-chapter tome, Saskatchewan: Geographic Perspectives (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2007), which is the province's first comprehensive geography textbook.
Abstract: Bernard D. Thraves, M.L. Lewry, Janis E. Dale, and Hansgeorg Schlictmann (eds), Saskatchewan: Geographic Perspectives (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2007), 486pp. Cased. $75.00. ISBN 978-088977-189-5. This lavishly produced 20-chapter tome claims to be Saskatchewan's first comprehensive geography textbook. It sets out to provide a substantive overview of the province from a variety of geographic perspectives, aiming specifically to be a textbook for use in postsecondary geography programmes with material appropriate for high school research projects and for the general public. It more than succeeds in these aims, containing a treasuretrove of information about the province so that it should be a much used source of material. It has 150 figures (mainly black-and-white photographs), 70 tables and 60 full-colour plates accompanying text that is fully referenced and contains 29 focus studies exploring specific topics in depth. Written largely by academic geographers and edited by faculty at the University of Regina, it successfully combines the production values of a coffeetable book with hard-edged academic content. Saskatchewan: Geographic Perspectives presents the work of 43 scholars arranged in 19 chapters and 6 sections, of which two are the introduction and conclusion. The four substantive sections deal with the Physical Environment, Historical and Cultural Geography, Population and Settlement, and Economic Geography. Given this wide sweep of geography, it is difficult to summarise its contents, though in the Introduction it is claimed that the book intends to dispel some of the 'myths' about the province. The reality is that it reinforces certain preconceptions while demonstrating how the changing economic climate has significantly altered the nature of the human geography. It was into a fairly unpromising physical environment (with particularly harsh winters) that white men first ventured as fur traders in the late seventeenth century. The overwhelming majority of the book deals with the subsequent unfolding of the province's history in terms of the evolving social and economic landscapes. However, the ongoing role of the aboriginal people is not ignored. The urbanisation of the province's population, focused on Regina and Saskatoon, is the dominant story of the province's history: from prairie farming communities of the 1920s and 1930s to today, when three-fifths of the population live in the two main urban centres and over three-quarters are in the eight most populous towns. …

11 citations















Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In Canada, the discretionary War Veterans' Allowance (WVA) was introduced in 1930 as discussed by the authors, which was payable to those, pensioners and non-pensioners alike, who were no longer employable.
Abstract: The programme of benefits created in Canada for veterans of the Great War made a clear distinction between pensionable and non-pensionable ex-servicemen. In 1930, the discretionary War Veterans' Allowance was introduced. This was payable (subject to various eligibility criteria) to those, pensioners and non-pensioners alike, who were no longer employable. As the Great Depression of the 1930s deepened, the Canadian Legion, the country's largest veterans organisation, demanded further assistance. In response, in March 1935 the government appointed a committee of inquiry headed by Justice J.D. Hyndman. Based on its recommendations, the Veterans' Assistance Commission was established in 1936. But its recommendation that a national programme of assistance be provided for all out-of-work veterans with overseas service was refused by Ottawa. A limit was set on veterans' benefits in the 1930s that was acknowledged in the Veterans Charter, Canada's programme for those who served in the Second World War.