Anti-semitism in Canada

Anti-semitism in Canada in the 1930´s and 1940´s

The Anti-semitism factor cannot be ignored or underestimated in the fact that Canada refuset to admit Jewish refugees in the 1930’s, although its impact is also sometimes overestimated. Historian David Rome wrote in Clouds in the Thirties (Vol. 11, p. 510): “The reluctance of the Canadian government to admit Jewish refugees in any great numbers was a fair reflection of public opinion […] which was a strong Anglo-Saxon nativism permeated with Anti-semitism”. Thus, even when Jews would have had the means to support themselves in Canada, they were often refused entry. For instance, after Kristallnacht (1938), the Canadian Jewish Congress was prepared to sponsor the coming, and guarantee the financial support of 10,000 Jewish refugees to Canada. Yet, the government of Canada rejected this proposal. The reason was simple: not only was immigration unpopular in the context of the Great Depression, but, as well, Anti-semitism was rife in Canada. The social exclusion of Jews was common in the institutions of English-speaking Canada while a vociferous anti-semitic discourse was heard in Quebec, spearheaded by the home-grown Nazi movement of Adrien Arcand, and legitimized by some members of the Catholic clergy and, otherwise, respectable newspapers such as Montreal’s Le Devoir. Thus, Jews had few friends in Canada and many enemies. In Quebec, for the most part, Jewish immigration was unwanted because any immigration was unpopular and Jews were seen, especially by the ultramontane nationalists, as a threat to the Catholic values of the province.

Furthermore, for decades, the Federal Government had conducted an aggressive immigration policy oblivious to the bilingual and bicultural character of Canada, not sufficiently concerned with Quebec’s wishes, hopes, goals and aspirations. The net result was to make Quebecers suspicious of the Federal Government, and of immigration in particular. Quebec’s federal politicians – Rinfret, Cardin and, especially, Lapointe – voiced in cabinet these anti-immigration views and their opposition to the admission of Jewish refugees. The King government relied significantly on support from Quebec. However, Quebecers were plainly not alone in the country in expressing anti-Jewish feelings and opposing Jewish immigration. Still in 1946, a full year after the end of the war and of the disclosure of the horrors of the holocaust, a poll conducted by the Canadian Institute of Public Opinion showed that 60% of Canadians approved of the exclusion of Jews from Canadian immigration.The factor of Anti-semitism having been raised and its importance underlined, it should not be considered as the only factor at play. In the period of 1891 to 1931, tens of thousands of Jews entered Canada despite the existence of Anti-semitism. It alone could not keep Jews out of Canada. However, compounded with the other factors presented above and below, it made it virtually impossible for Jews to find refuge in Canada in the 1930’s.

Still, if Canada had had a different federal government, the response might have been more positive. However, Mackenzie King was not a Prime Minister to forge ahead and challenge public opinion. On the contrary, he made it a habit of never straying too far from popular desires. From time to time, Mackenzie King expressed sympathy with the plight of the Jews of Germany, especially from 1938. He was not a rabit antisemite, as some ill-informed commentators have written. He admired some qualities that he associated with Jews but also held negative views and suscribed to stereotypes about them. On this, he was probably typical of the views of many Canadians. He built his public career on identifying properly the prevailing wind of public opinion. He was forever cautious, identifying the welfare of the country with the health of his government. Anything that threatened the position of the government he led must be rooted out as the welfare of the country would suffer if his government had to be replaced. Appropriately, he was extremely concerned with the maintenance of national unity, with keeping Quebec and the rest of the country working in the same direction. On the question of immigration and Jewish refugees, the electors of Canada were clear: the doors should remain closed. King was not about to do otherwise.

In responding so negatively, the government of Mackenzie King followed the lead of its predecessors who had never developed a refugee policy. King was not about to create one for a group that faced so much prejudice and discrimination in Canada. He faced little pressure from the international community, or from ordinary Canadians, to adopt a different policy. Unfortunately, during the Great Depression, too many people were hurting and were not in the mood to pay much attention to the problems of others…

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This entry was last updated: November 5, 2014