From Strangers to “Humanity First”: Canadian Social Democracy and Immigration Policy, 1932–1961

Abstract

Founded in 1932, Canada's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (ccf) brought into a single movement disparate elements that, until then, had shown little inclination to cohere: intellectuals from Central Canada, Prairie farmers, politicized workers, many of them of non-British background, and clergy inspired by the Social Gospel. United during the Great Depression by their shared critique of capitalism, these groups stood more broadly for workers' rights and social justice, two preoccupations that would carry into the issue of immigration. This article explores the thought of J.S. Woodsworth, the intellectual climate on the political left, and the constituent parts of Canadian social democracy to discern major factors and trends in the formulation of ccf positions on immigration policy. It invites greater scholarly reflection on the relationship between economic nationalism, especially the protection of the domestic labour market, and an emergent civic nationalism in mid-twentieth-century Canada.