Many of the Czech immigrants who came to Canada between 1948 – 1951 could find no work. That is why various Czech-owned businesses such as the Bata Shoe, Hamilton Carhart, the Czechoslovak National Alliance, Opal Manufacturing , Staruba Industrial Corporation, Hesky Flax Products and others offered these “brothers” a new employment opportunities.
Immigrants who came after the Prague Spring in 1968 faced similar problems. This time, however, the government was ready for them: it offered language classes free of charge as well as the already existing large Czech community to make the whole transition process easier. That year Canada welcomed about 21, 000 Czechs and Slovaks.
The 1991 census counted 21,190 persons who claimed to be 100% Czech and close to 26,000 people of partial Czech ethnicity. 54,000 persons claimed to have partial or whole “Czechoslovakian” ethnicity. Nearly 80% of them live in 3 provinces:
- Ontario
- British Columbia
- Alberta
After the Velvet Revolution in 1989 only a small number of Czechs living in Canada decided to go back “home”. Most of them did so to take an advantage of the new business/economic opportunities in the newly free and democratic country.
Source: http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/ecp/content/czechs.html
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