New exhibition, Acres of Dreams, explores the "selling" and settling of the Canadian Prairies
Gatineau, Quebec, October 27, 2005 — Between 1896 and the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, about two million settlers from Europe and the United States poured into the Canadian Prairies in the greatest single wave of immigration in Canada’s history. This compelling story is the focus of a new exhibition at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Acres of Dreams: Settling the Canadian Prairies revisits the unprecedented marketing campaign led by the federal government that lured immigrants into Western Canada. It also examines the origins, motivations and experiences of the settlers who forever changed the Prairie landscape and played an essential role in building Canada.
"This is a fascinating story of how national and personal dreams combined, and drew a large, vibrant and diverse population of immigrants to the Prairies," said Dr. Victor Rabinovitch, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. "It is partly about speculation, discrimination and disappointment, but also about courage, perseverance and promotion.”
The CMC has created this very large exhibition to mark the centennials of Saskatchewan and Alberta, both of which gained provincial status in 1905 thanks largely to the people and events depicted in Acres of Dreams.
The exhibition highlights the dazzling array of posters, pamphlets, slogans, contests, travelling displays and lecture tours used in the marketing campaign led by the government, railway companies, steamship lines and other business interests. The invitation to settle the Canadian Prairies — touted with slogans such as "Free Farms for the Millions," "The Land of Opportunity," and "The Last Best West" — was embraced by individuals and families from as far away as Russia.
Although most of the settlers came from the United States, Britain and Continental Europe, some emigrated from Central and Eastern Canada. The exhibition underscores the efforts of religious and cultural leaders in French Canada who sought to establish a French Roman-Catholic stronghold in West Communities such as St. Albert, Alberta, which today remain important places Western francophone culture.
Massive immigration crested in 1913, when 400,870 newcomers came to Canada, setting a one-year record that remains unchallenged. The wave ended abruptly in 1914 with the start of the Great War.
The immigrants’ contribution to their new homeland — culturally and economically — was profound. A concrete measure of their impact was the amount of cultivated land in Canada before and after their arrival. In 1871, the entire country had 17 million acres of improved farmland. By 1916, Saskatchewan alone had close to 20 million cultivated acres, most of them broken by immigrant settlers.
Acres of Dreams: Settling the Canadian Prairies was developed by the Canadian Museum of Civilization in collaboration with Library and Archives Canada. It will be presented at the Museum until January 29, 2006.
Backgrounders
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Canadian Museum of Civilization
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Canadian Museum of Civilization
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