Population Movements and the Assimilation of Alien Groups in Canada

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Abstract
This paper deals with some of the problems which confront immigrants who strive to become adjusted to a new environment in Canada's largest cities. The materials presented refer to people from the continent of Europe who have settled in Montreal or Toronto during the present century. The point of view taken here is that the experiences of European immigrants, as told by themselves or by their Canadian-born children, contribute valuable information and significant insights into the processes by which they become assimilated toward one or the other of Canada's two major cultures.As a social term, assimilation commonly refers to a political rather than a cultural concept. As R. E. Park points out, “it is the name given to the process or the processes by which people of diverse racial origins and different cultural heritages, occupying a common territory, achieve a cultural solidarity sufficient at least to sustain a national existence.” In this country, as in the United States, an immigrant is usually considered assimilated when he has learned the language and the social usages of the native community well enough to participate in its economic, political, and social life without encountering prejudice. The emphasis is here on external indices, such as ability to speak French or English, achievement of the status of a citizen through naturalization, and adoption of the dress, the manners, and the social ritual of the Canadian-born with whom the immigrant comes in contact.

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