Invisible Immigrants: The English in Canada since 1945 par Marilyn Barber and Murray Watson

Abstract

Reviewed by: Invisible Immigrants: The English in Canada since 1945 par Marilyn Barber and Murray Watson Michael Akladios Barber, Marilyn and Murray Watson–Invisible Immigrants: The English in Canada since 1945. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2015. Pp. 288. Invisible Immigrants' greatest strength lies in its recounting of the multifaceted life experiences of the last major movement of English immigrants to Canada between 1945 and the mid-1970s. The English formed the largest national group—over half a million people—of the approximately four million immigrants who entered Canada in this period. From the decision to leave England to the struggles of settlement and adaptation to life, work, and community in Canada, the memories of over seventy English immigrants take centre stage. The authors deserve praise for not letting the "confused and contested state of theory" overwhelm or obscure immigrants' stories (p. 16). With their life-story approach, Barber and Watson build on, and offer comparisons with, Jim Hammerton and Al Thomson's Ten Pound Poms (a study [End Page 450] of the English in Australia) and Murray Watson's Being English in Scotland. The authors challenge the invisibility of English immigrants in Canadian historiography and suggest rather that "in many respects the English are invisible, though audible" (p. 153). Their analysis sheds light on the range of factors motivating English emigrants and on the ways in which they experienced Canada's newly adopted role as a civic nation. The writers ground these narratives in a wealth of secondary literature, select periodicals, and archival documents, and consider them in relation to "contextual issues related to family and gender, social class, welfare, race and ethnicity, sensory perception, technology, and popular culture" (p. 28). However, one should read their conclusions with caution, since about one-third of English immigrants returned to England or moved elsewhere, and the authors interviewed none of these people. The first half of the book is chronological. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the harsh realities of postwar austerity measures in England, Cold War tensions, and the competitive promotional activities of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. Throughout, English immigrants appear as active transnationals who moved pragmatically where there was demand for their expertise and mobilized transatlantic connections. Ontario attracted the highest proportion, with British Columbia and Quebec next. After the 1960s, Alberta's developing oil industry attracted more immigrants, and growing emphasis on French language and culture after the Quiet Revolution made Quebec lass attractive. Taking us beyond the typical push-and-pull factors, Barber and Watson show that economic frustrations did not always motivate emigration. For some people, particularly single émigrés, "working as part of travelling was a product of changing attitudes toward leisure, an evolving youth culture, and greater mobility in the postwar decades" (p. 59). After decisions to leave, chapter 3 follows immigrants' touching stories of preparation, departure, and the journey to Canada. Technological advances figure heavily, as ship travel gives way to propeller-driven aircraft and then passenger jets. Chapter 4 offers an engrossing transition from chronological to thematic. In accounts of adjustment to life in Canada and reactions to anglophone--francophone divides, Barber and Watson's analysis of sensory perception and the "audible immigrant" is the book's most compelling contribution. Following the lead of their interviewees, they forgo theories of one-way assimilation or two-way acculturation in favour of adaptation, "a flexible concept that implies change but not necessarily complete conformity" (p. 100). For immigrants audible in their accent and manner of speech, in Montreal this marker of difference could become a point of discrimination; especially for women active in family and community life who felt as "second-class citizens" (p. 108). In addition, we read stories of adaptation to a different monetary system, shopping, cooking, the absence of the English pub, and the power of the "$1,000-cure"—a return visit to England. Chapters 5 and 6 then turn to paid and unpaid work to assess the newcomers' integration into Canadian society. Case studies introduce us to entrepreneurs, professionals, public-sector workers, and working wives. Throughout, English immigrants appear as professional and skilled workers who encountered few [End Page 451] barriers to jobs. Single immigrants accepted accommodations in...