Origin, birthplace, nationality and language of the Canadian people

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1794974814

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-182133

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Origin, birthplace, nationality and language of the Canadian people

Place of publication:: Ottawa

Publisher:: Acland

Year of publication:: 1929

Scope:: 224 S.; Diagramme

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Introduction

Collection:: Economics Books

ORIGIN, BIRTHPLACE AND NATIONALITY The Ukrainian classification, again, includes four groups: the Bukovinian, Galician, Ruthenian, and Ukrainian. But the problem here is mot in the diverse elements within the group. The four peoples are separately classified and 97 p.c. of them speak Slavic languages. The group thus includes only biological strains which are closely allied—a. fact which did mot obtain with the Austrian or Russian. The difficulty is that the Ukrainian group probably includes only a part of those who might properly be so classed. There are about 20,000 in the Austrian “ origin” group who speak one of the Ukminiam languages as the mother tongue, and it is probable that there were also some Ukrainians among the 33,856 so-called Russians who were reported as speaking Russian as the mother tongue. It is clear, therefore, that in certain cases, especially with people from South, Eastern and Central Europe, the “origin” classification signifies, primarily, original geographical habitat. In view of this fact the data in the present report are presented in such cases not only by origins but in general geographical groups and by language classification. Separate figures have been computed for those of North Western and South, Eastern and Central European origins, and for the Scandinavians, Germanic, Latin and Greek and Slavie groups. In some of the linguistic groups certain proportions speaking other languages were necessarily included. For example, the Austrians and Russians are classed as Slavs, yet about 40 p.c. of each speak German as the mother tongue. With the exception of those two groups, however, considerable homogeneity appears within the larger groupings, and even in the cases mentioned (the Austrians and Russians) it is a matter of debate whether from the point of view of culture the Germans of Austria and Russia domiciled in Canada are not closer to the Slavs than to the Germans coming to Canada from Germany. The above facts regarding the “origin” classification should be borne in mind in reading the subsequent pages of this monograph. Except in the case of the Hebrews, the term “origin” always connotes the original geographical habitat of a population group, usually implies a distinct culture, and often a definite biological strain. In any case, it refers to a specific group of immigrants and their progeny. CLASSIFICATION OF MIXED STOCKS The male line is used in the census for tracing “ origin ” derivation. In this connection che population falls into two main categories: (1) the less assimilable peoples who have maintained their original purity, and (2) those who have intermarried freely for several generations. In the case of those falling within the first category, the procedure of the census is obviously satisfactory. It might be objected in the case of those falling within the second category, however, that there are many individuals whose origins are so intermixed through intermarriages that their designation as of the origin indicated by their fathers’ patronymic is largely meaningless. This may be accepted as true in so far as the individual is concerned. It remains true, however, that by the law of large numbers in the mass, the adoption of the practice followed in the census will yield approximately accurate measurements of the different infusions of blood that have gone to make up the total. The above becomes clear when we consider in greater detail the purposes for which “origin” data are collected. Apart from purely scientific studies such data have two types of use. First, they have an important bearing on the study of immigration, for they show with what measure of success the newer peoples are mixing with the basic stocks of the country and adapting themselves to Canadian institutions. In the second place, such data have considerable historical interest in recording not only the continuous infusion of foreign blood and foreign cultures from abroad, but the combined effect of natural increase and immigration on ‘the “origin” structure of the population. In its bearing upon immigration policy, the accuracy of the origin classification varies lirectly with its importance to public policy. (Certain peoples readily intermarry with the native English and French stock in Canada and are easily assimilated in other respects. The larger the amount of intermarriage the greater is the number, for example, with part English blood who are classified as of Swedish origin and vice versa. As the fusion proceeds the social behaviour of the two groups becomes more and more alike. However.

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