TURNED OUT OF CANADA

Hokitika Guardian, 24 December 1930, Page 7

TURNED OUT OF CANADA

UNWANTED : IMMIGRANTS

VANCOUVER-, November !26.

A tremendous sensation has been created throughout Canada, in consequence of, the publication in Britain of reports from the mouths of returned British who have returned to the land oL. thejr birth disillusionea aj|d embittered against" Canada. In glaring letters the Montreal “Daily Star,” under the caption, “Not "Wanted in Canada,” with the subheading, “Pathetic Rejects from Land of Hope and- Disillusion,” “Every Liner Busy,” and a story from Liverpool, has the following:—“Canada has started a big ‘comb out,’ and a stream of returned, emigrants—men, women and children— is pouring into Liverpool by every ship from Canada. Reports received in Liverpool from Canada indicate that this tragic procession will continue throughout the winter months, and will . bring thousands back to the unemployment from which they had fled. ’:■*, “The dejected crowds huddled in the corners of the: third-class saloons of the liners.-aSipfey' arrive at Liverpool are a pathetic'spectacle. The unhappy unwanted'Talk include widows of men who had made good, but .who, without their husbands’ help, are ; unable to keep themselves and their • ' children ; men who have become unemployed; single have>“?een deceived by faithless lovers; 1 and bewildered

youngsters ;whose only sin against society is that- they are not only enough to help themselves. “The hush-hush policy 'of the shipping companies cannot keep dark this great tragedy. Unhappy deportees tell sorrowful tales of a, land of disillusion which they had been told was the land of golden opportunity.” Commenting on the subject, the Montreal “Star” says: “This sort of thing has been widely disseminated throughout the Old Country. "What Bort of. an: idea- will it convey to the average .readeiyof Canada- as a land to 'which he .can turn hopefully, eagerly, anticipating -'a cordial welcome. from fellow-Bntq'njfover the sea and an-equal l chance ctp make good and earn a liv-ing‘and’-,winv.independence? And when the British public learn that people are being 'sent-out of this country for no other erime-;;than that they have lost their breadwinner or have fallen upon evil- days,“or : have- become a burden through no: : „fault of their own, but simply by, a,'natural process, of nature, what sort of- people will the Canadians seem in their eyes, that they thus reject and fling , away those who have been loyaT citizens, in some cases for many years,' ■ whose present state is their own fault? , “Surely“ if ,we intended"”to 1 pursue this suicidal < policy, the best way would be';,'to: do it frankly, and to stop all . advertising of this country abroad assail attractive, land for the intending settler, We might as well be honest with the world and with o arrive s, and, say definitely that we do not want any, more immigrants at pre-

sent. To welcome them with one hand and to send back the flotsam and jetsam, and tho wreckage and povertystricken and the sick with the other, is a piece of hypocrisy unworthy of any British Dominion, and one that will surely be attended by a sequel it is most unpleasant to contemplate.”