THE NEW CANADIAN
_Immigration!--Are We ready for It?_
Demobilization is over. Canada has settled down to the work of
"Reconstruction." Already the eyes of every serious minded Canadian
scan the horizon, wondering if these transatlantic liners now bound for
our ports carry in their dark hulls hosts of new settlers. Immigration
is the topic of the hour. Confronted as we are by a fabulous national
debt, GREATER PRODUCTION is the only solution. This intense and
extensive development of agriculture and industry necessarily involves
immigration.--Immigration is therefore an economic necessity.
War-wearied nations of Europe are just waking up to the realities of
conditions. The dark cloud has lifted only to show everywhere silent
industries and desolate fields. Thousands and hundreds of thousands
are turning their eyes to the "New World"--as to the "_Land of
Opportunity_." They need Canada to break away from a gloomy past, just
as Canada needs them to build a bright and prosperous future.
Opinions may vary as to the time when immigration will be once more at
its height, but all seem to agree on the certainty of the fact.[1]
Probably the British Isles will open the march in the onward rush to
Canada; Continental Europe will follow in their wake. Already the
various philanthropic and religious organizations are preparing to
welcome the new-comer to our Shores.
Misdirected and unsupervised immigration has been for the Church in the
past a great source of leakage. Here and there noble and zealous
efforts have been made to prevent these losses; but they were local and
spasmodic. It was only a few years previous to the outbreak of the war
that a Catholic Immigration Society for the Dominion was formed. The
Reverend Abbe Casgrain was its Founder and Director. Homes and
agencies were opened in every large city. Let us hope that this
Dominion-wide organization will once more soon become a reality. A
priest in full charge of its organization and responsible for its
efficiency is, we believe, the main condition of success. And indeed
immigration is in Canada one of those problems that over-lap the
boundaries of dioceses and provinces and call for the co-operation and
co-ordination of all forces. A leader, with the sanction and backing
of the Hierarchy, will be the binding link between the various helping
factors and will prevent immigration becoming "nobody's business" just
because "it is everybody's business." This method of an organized and
responsible unity will alone straighten out our line of defence from
Halifax to Vancouver, and pinch out the various salients of enemy
forces that are always and everywhere at work.
But who will carry out this leader's policy, once thought out and
approved of? As our Catholic Immigration Society is about to
reorganize its forces to meet new conditions, may we be allowed to
offer a suggestion? The Knights of Columbus have just finished the
great work of their "Army Huts." During the war and particularly
during the demobilization, they had trained secretaries, hotels,
recreation rooms, for the welfare of our soldiers. This work has
placed them in the field of "Social Service" and given them a standing
in the community at large. Now why could not that organization be
maintained and serve the purpose of Catholic Immigration?
The Knights of Columbus are indeed ready for the task. Their chain of
huts from coast to coast link together our main centres; their trained
secretaries who have enlisted the sympathetic co-operation of devoted
ladies; the very nature of the Order, Dominion-wide in its organization
and spreading beyond the boundaries of any particular Province,
everything seems now to invite them to turn their efforts to the great
Cause of Immigration. During the war they worked side-by-side with the
Red Triangle (Y.M.C.A.) and the Red Shield (S.A.). As these
organizations are now intensely taking up what they call
"Canadianization" work in its various aspects, is it befitting, would
you think, for our Knights to drop out of the field? Should they not,
on the contrary, prepare to "carry on"--as their brother Knights are
doing across the border? The example they are giving there to the
Catholic laity is simply wonderful. It is an object lesson that has
awakened the tremendous energies that lie dormant in the ranks of the
Catholic laymen and only want the spark of "leadership" to ignite them.
And indeed no work should appeal more to the Knights, for it places
them in their true sphere of action. It opens up long vistas of
"Social religious work," by giving them the consciousness of the
religious solidarity and the feeling of their social and national
responsibilities. With that vision, under that impulse, they walk from
their Council Chambers into the very life of the Church and of the
Nation. They assume in all reality their office of a _Loyal
Body-guard_. For, in this matter, our contention is that where the
Knights of Columbus' Order is not wedded to some definite programme of
action, in harmony with its aim and constitution, it ceases to be an
asset and will soon go to seed, or die of dry rot.
* * * * * *
The following would be a summary of activities to be undertaken in
connection with Immigration work. This is merely an outline that may
help in drawing up a more exhaustive plan of action.
1. _Permanent Secretaries_.--In our estimation, a permanent, trained
and well-paid secretary is the condition of genuine success. The time
has passed to have to depend on voluntary and untrained service. Times
have changed and methods also. The permanency of a secretary gives to
our work stability and promise of intense life. This has been the
secret of the success of other organizations that we could afford to
imitate.
Moreover this secretaryship can become the mother-cell of various
activities which eventually will branch off--_i.e._, Welfare Bureau,
Information Bureau, etc., etc. This therefore should be our first
preoccupation, for on it depend the life and prosperity of our
Immigration Work.
2. _Ladies' Auxiliary_.--Local Women's organization can be called upon
to bring their sympathetic support to the carrying out of this work of
Catholic Immigration. Generous and devoted women are always to be
found to whom this work will appeal. Their natural sympathy and their
great faith make them always the "Real Workers." The very same ladies
who helped so wonderfully in our patriotic work could continue to place
their kindness and devotedness at the Service of this great Catholic
Cause. We only need, we are sure, to call on them, and organize their
various forces. Why should not "The Catholic Women's League" have its
branch from coast to coast and take up everything of interest to the
Catholic Womanhood of Canada, and thereby, to the Church also?
This would have a great bearing on various issues and offer a great
medium for organized opinion and co-ordinated action. Has not the time
come when our women forces have to organize and unite into one great
Canadian Catholic Body?
3. _Literature, Publicity_.--We are living in an age when literature
and publicity are the great vehicles of public opinion. We need, to
carry on the work successfully, plenty of good literature and
efficient, sane publicity. The hour has come to walk right out in the
open and nail our sign to the post at every cross-way. Our Catholic
Immigrants are entitled to this service which will offset the
influences of dangerous agencies that meet them too often as they set
foot on our shores.
A new map of Western Canada with designations of Churches and Missions,
with resident or non-resident priests is needed. The map published
before the war would have to be revised, for the growth of the Church
has been wonderful--in certain dioceses particularly. Attractive
booklets giving useful information and warning the incoming immigrants
against the specific dangers he is liable to meet with; folders and
cards with addresses of the nearest Catholic churches and rectories,
with 'phone number of the Catholic Bureau, should be ready on hand. A
list of the various offices of the Society and of other Catholic Social
Centres should also be now prepared. This, we may remark, is very
important and demands careful study and experience. A short snappy
leaflet very often goes further than a diluted booklet. What others
have done or are doing in this line will be of great help. Before the
war the Catholic Immigration Society of Canada had such literature.
The Catholic Truth Society of Canada could co-operate in this matter.
To reach the Catholic immigrant and emigrant is very often a problem of
_publicity_. Posters on the docks, in the railroad stations and other
prominent places, cards, notices on the bulletin-boards of the steamers
and hotels, distribution of leaflets on boats and trains, copies of
current activities in the newspapers, advertising in our papers and
papers abroad, listing of the Catholic Bureau with other similar work
in the city, are some of the means to keep our work before the public.
Let us not be afraid to place our name where it can be seen. We cannot
afford to hide our light under the bushel. Let it burn bright, to
attract and guide our Catholic brother as he comes to our shores and
goes through our country.
4. _Co-operation_.--Co-operation of all our bureaus with our Catholic
Societies of Emigration of England, Ireland, etc., with Canadian
Government bureaus, Federal and Provincial and various other benevolent
organizations in Canada, as Traveller's Aid, etc., will be a marked and
appreciated aid to our work. And when others will see us at "Our
Father's work," they will refer our own to us. This is the ordinary
experience of all engaged in Social Service activities.
The Catholic Emigration Society of England has been recently formed and
is preparing for the exodus that will follow the inauguration of the
Government schemes for assisting ex-Service men. This Society will
work on national lines with international co-operation. The "Universe"
of Sept. 26, 1919, gives us an account of the first meeting. The
movement is endorsed by the Hierarchy and representatives of Catholic
life in the British Isles, Canada, Australia and South-Africa.
5. _Finance_.--Naturally this work will demand funds. Catholic Charity
will come to our rescue as this is certainly a work of preservation
which should appeal to any zealous Catholic. And what others have been
able to do, why could we not find means to do?
But in this work the Canadian Government will give a helping hand. The
authorities in Ottawa will be the first to appreciate what we will do
for our new Canadians. In a recent memoir submitted to the Premiers of
our various Provinces the social welfare of the immigrants was one of
the topics to which particular attention was given. We can see that
the Government will be ready to subsidize social work in Immigration,
provided there is no over-lapping. There will be subsidies for our
work, if we are organized and ask for them. When looking over the
amounts distributed to various Immigrations Societies, we see, for
instance, in 1913-1914 the Salvation Army receiving a subsidy of over
$22,000, while all the Catholic Immigration Societies received only
about $6,000. We conclude that it is simply because we did not ask for
our "Pound of Flesh."
* * * * * *
Should not, therefore, the work of Catholic Immigration with all its
wonderful possibilities for the welfare of Church and Country, appeal
to our Canadian Knights of Columbus? Many and many a settler has been
lost to the Church--he, his children and future generations--because
perhaps no one was there to receive him on his arrival in his new
Country, to help him to settle where there was a church, a priest, and
a Catholic school. No one needs more the help of his Catholic brother
than the immigrant, who has just broken away with a past made up of
customs, friendships, racial feelings, of all that is dear to man's
heart, and faces an enigmatic future.
The long procession which we have seen in the years of intense
immigration, winding its way through our cities and losing itself on
the plains of the West, is about to start again. Shall we be there to
welcome and direct it?
_Knights of Columbus, what is your answer_?
[1] 200,000 are expected to come to Canada in 1921 from the British
Isles alone. Hon. J. H. Calder, Minister of Immigration, made this
statement.