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No Refuge
by Paul Stortz, University of Calgary
Many immigrants who arrived in Canada during the early 20th century viewed it as a land of opportunity and security. This was not the case in the 1930s and early 1940s. As immigration slowed to a trickle, even those who managed to gain entry, including the small number of Jewish families admitted, often found themselves unwelcome. Jewish immigrants tried to settle in established Jewish communities, including those in Toronto, Montréal, and Winnipeg. Many were instructed by the Department of Immigration to settle in remote agricultural regions, particularly in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, where Jewish farming settlements were long-established.
In the cities, Jewish communities thrived, but not without difficulties. Jews were often barred from working in chartered banks, trust or insurance companies, and in certain professions. They could not send their children to some schools or purchase land, and they were openly discriminated against at beaches, resorts, campgrounds, and community centres. Potential patrons were warned not to enter Jewish stores and restaurants. A race riot in Toronto in the early 1930s, and the growth of "Gentiles Only" signs in many large cities, prompted some Jewish families and immigrants to change their names in an effort to assimilate more easily into a non-Jewish culture. Jewish communities were scattered throughout the country, but in many areas Jewish people were able to live and prosper despite hostile environments.
The vast majority of Jewish immigrants fleeing the horrible conditions in Europe never made it to Canada. The stories of their plight are well known today, but relatively few people in Canada in the 1930s felt an appropriate amount of compassion, or were truly aware of the extent of the Holocaust. Through agencies, friends, and relatives, Jews in Europe applied for help in Canada. Their requests went largely unheeded. Many Jews, from children to respected professionals and leaders in European society, were denied entry to Canada, and the fate of many of them remains unknown to this day.
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