Czech Canadians

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. [click to continue…]

When the W.W.I ended the Czech immigration became less attractive because the new Czechoslovak Republic had a stable and industrialized economy. Job offers become widely available and the standard of living improved drastically. However the agricultural field remained attractive. Lot of Czech farmers came to Canada to develop the Sugar Beet industry and that is how new Czech communities in southern Alberta were formed (especially in Lethbridge and Chatham).

The inner-war immigration changed the distribution of Czechs in Canada, where more of them settled in urban communities instead of the country. The biggest communities were created in Ontario and Quebec, where Montreal (3,700 Czechs in 1920′) and Toronto (2,500 in 1920′) became primary Czech centres. Other new Czech “homes” became cities like Hamilton, Kitchener, Ottawa and Calgary). In the year 1931 the census counted around 30,000 Czechoslovakians in Canada. [click to continue…]

Prior to the first major immigration wave (1880) the majority of Czechs settled in the US. From there some of them moved to western Canada which was known for its vast and cheap land. ” The Canadian government, in conjunction with the Canadian Pacific Railway, sponsored a number of similar colonization schemes, promising that upon arrival the immigrant could begin ploughing on a selected piece of land. These colonization schemes usually involved partial payment for transport overseas and by rail across the continent, and offered attractive, but not obligatory, land-purchase plans. These did not always work out, and many immigrants had to work on others’ farms or in the railway and mining industries before they received their own land. As a result, many never became farmers but stayed in their first jobs. In many cases, these migrants adapted to their new life and decided to stay in Canada instead of returning home. Many then arranged for their wives and children to join them” .

Czech immigration to Canada can be devided into 4 phases:

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