A Matter of Domestic Policy? Canadian Immigration Policy and the Admission of Germans, 1945–50

A Matter of Domestic Policy?Canadian Immigration Policyand the Admission of Germans, 1945-50 ANGELIKA E. SAUER ON1MAY1947,almost exactly twoyearsafterthewarin Europehad endedin Alliedvictory,PrimeMinisterMacl(enzie King rosein the Houseof Commonsto read a statement on Canadianimmigration policy?His government haddwelledon thissubject for more thana year, and certainaspects of it, suchas the questionof admitting Orientals,had nearly split the Liberal party along regional lines. Then, in theweeks preceding thestatement, thecabinet had rejected a numberof draftsonthebasis of antidpatedpoliticaldifficulties with Quebec.Eventuallythe prime minister'sinterventionhad become necessary to endthedeadlock. The oldpolitician carefully pondered the traditionalcomplications in establishing a nationalmandateon mattersaffecting theprovinces, but thenhismindturnedto a new elementthathe thoughtwasreallytoblamefor renderingimmigration suchan explosive politicalissue:United Nationsenthusiasts, speakingof international obligations and the necessity to end discrimination ,somehowseemedto questionthat it wasa country's sovereign rightto determine thenumbers andtypes of immigrants it waswillingtoadmit.Kingbridledat theimplications of thisattitude. Suddenly theproposed statement appeared to him to transcend the Special thanks tothemembers oftheDepartment ofHistoryattheUniversity of Waterloo fortheirsupport andtoNormanHillmerandGregDonaghy, goodfriends andtoughcritics. I amalso indebted tothreeanonymous readers fortheirvaluable suggestions. 1 House ofCommons, Debates, 1May1947. Thisstudy isbased ontheassumption thata cleardistinction between Canadian immigration andrefugee policyin the immediate postwar years isunnecessary since displaced persons andrefugees wereadmitted bya series ofincremental measures underCanada's existing immigration program. CanadianHistoricalReview,LXXlV, 2, 1993 0008-3755/93/0600-0226 $01.25/0¸ University of TorontoPress A MATTER OF DOMESTIC POLICY? •7 narrow realmofimmigration andaffect theverysoul ofthenation. Canada wasundergoing a periodof change andtransition, but the primeministerwasnowdetermined to givesomereassurance to Canadians thattheirliveswouldnotbe radically altered by new internationalist concepts andexpectations. He wasabouttotellthem thatthetraditional fabric ofthenation would bepreserved andthat thecountry's thinking about theoutside worldwould remain firmly embedded in familiarpatterns.' King'sstatement indeedsymbolized Canada's ambiguous attitude asthe countryenteredthe world stage.Any new departurewas tempered by a reference to the past.Expressing whatonehistorian hascalled'thetraditional xenophobia ofa conservative society that had...achieved precarious equipoise," theprimeminister pledged to 'preserve thecharacter ofourpopulation,' implying thatEuropewas to remain the frontier of Canada's international experience. He promisedto protectthe country'sfreedomto selectand exclude certaintypesof immigrants,rejectingall chargesof discrimination withthe observation thatit wasnotthe'fundamental humanright'of anyalientoenterCanada but'a privilege.' Andalthough thegovernment 'seagerness to projectthe imageof Canadaasa mature and responsible nationwasevident in King'sreferences tocertaininternationalobligations towards.European refugees, the prime minister madeit clearthathe andhiscolleagues refused to regardrefugees as morethan a temporary problem,or to address the politicalrather than the humanitarian dimension of the issue. Thus, Canada's membership in the InternationalRefugeeOrganization, tabledfor ratification in theHouse,appeared tobea voluntary adhocresponse toa war-related emergency ratherthana symbol of departurein the nation's immigration policyor, indeed,itsexternalrelations. King didnot talkaboutsurrendering anyof Canada's sovereign prerogatives whenhementioned international responsibilities asa newfactor in the formulation of immigration policy. He did notsuggest that international programs wouldbe permitted to infringeupontraditionally domestic territories. Instead, Kingreassured hislisteners that 2 NationalArchives of Canada(N^).W.L. Mackenzie King Papers, M• 26, J 13, KingDiary,11-14Feb.1947; J.W.Pickersgill andD.F.Forster, eds., The Mackenzie King Record, vol.IV:1947-1948 (Toronto 1970), 33--6; Queen's University Archives, Kingston, GrantDexter Papers, TC4, file30,MaxFreedmanmemoranda , 2 April 1947 3JohnHolmes, The Shaping ofPea•e: Cartads andthe Search for World Order, 1943-57, vol. 1 (Toronto 1979),97 228 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL KEVIEW immigrationremained'a matterof domestic policy... subject to the controlof the parliament of Canada.' King's'domestic policy'premise of May 1947stilldominates historicalstudiesdealingwith Canada's postwarimmigrationpolicy. Concentrating their analysis on the domestic political,social,and economicfactorsin the policy-making process, none of the three majorstudies onthesubject funyconsiders theinternational political environmentas a frameworkin which immigration policy was shaped. They alsodo not explorein anydetailthe useof immigration policyasan instrumentof foreignpolicyand asa mediumto transmitCanada'snationalself-image to other countries.This is all the more surprising sinceHawkins,for one, criticizes diplomatic historians forbeing'profoundly uninterested in immigration'andfor not treatingit aspart of Canada's international role.Yet sheherself downplays the fundamentally externaland international characterof thisareaof publicpolicy. • The onlymajorstudythat undertakes to examinea foreignpolicypremise and itsapplication on immigration policy is of limited value not only becausethe author's thesisis questionable, butalsobecause henarrowly focuses onsecurity screening as representing the full intent of immigrationpolicy,despite repeatedassertions that the securityapparatus in factundermined and deformedpublicpolicy,or wasusedto cloakracialbiases. sNone of thesestudiestreatsimmigrationpolicyas a matter of domestic policyaswellasan aspect of externalaffairs. It mightbe arguedthatimmigrationpolicyistoonarrowand too 4 GeraldDirks,Canada's Refugee Policy: Indifference orOpportunism...