Immigration to Canada took a gradual downturn in the late 1920s, and became seriously harder in 1931.

With the passage of Order-in-Council PC 695 on 21 March 1931, the government of Prime Minister R.B. Bennett implemented the tightest immigration admissions policy in Canadian history. Further restrictions were deemed necessary after the onset of the Great Depression in order to combat soaring unemployment and further economic decline.

The legislation limited admissible immigrants to: American and British subjects with sufficient means to maintain themselves until securing employment; agriculturalists with sufficient means to farm in Canada; and the wives and minor children of Canadian residents. Immigrants of all other classes and occupations were explicitly prohibited from landing in Canada.

The annual number of immigrants went down from over 150000 in 1928 to about 20000 in the years 1931 onward. When it comes to Finns, we can still find boatloads of them arriving to Canadian ports, but the passenger lists always show the name of an employer, family member or other guarantor who has committed to keep the immigrant self sufficient and not a burden to the government.

Any exceptions to the legal requirements were taken to the Government’s Privy Council for decision, and the approval thus required a signature of the Governor General. These waiver proposals have been digitized from 1929 onwards, and can be found here. The vast majority of applications concern Central and Eastern Europeans, and the pressure of refugees from 1935 forward is obvious. In 1929-1941, only about 80 Finnish immigrants were subjected to this process. Their petitions often mention the recommendations of a local consul, a vice-consul, employer, parish pastor or other reliable person. The additional justification is often cited as the reliability of the applicant, no communist sympathies, and other suitability. The waiver proposals, even if brief, can be useful sources for genealogy researchers, because they often contain biographical data that cannot be found in other sources. The geni profiles of the individuals mentioned in this post are accompanied by these petitions, and examples of them are displayed below.

Priests got special treatment

The first approved Finnish application in 1929 concerned Elma Hjelt who was born in Toivakka. She had lived in Canada and gone to the United States to study theology some years before the imposition of new restrictions. Her return required the United Church’s application that Elma be able to work on the Home Mission in Kirkland Lake parish.

A number of other priests from various denominations had to find guarantors who assured that he would not become a burden to the government. The parishes were poor, and even credible promises of salary were sometimes difficult to make – the main argument was that there was no education for Finnish-speaking priests in Canada. There is no knowing how many such applications were rejected, but among the approved were at least the following.

• Martin Halinen (1934), Kirkland Lake
• Antti Kulju (1933), Sudbury
• Liida Myyrä (1932), Toronto
• Toivo Tervonen (1936), Toronto
• Kyösti Toppila (1936), Toronto

Brynolf Uusitalo, a well-known clergyman in Finland, was an active and enterprising border-crosser. He had joined in the service of the National Church in the USA, and was sent to Toronto to serve as pastor at the local parish in 1932 . He was turned away at the border since he did not meet the requirements of the law. He then managed to get to Canada past authorities but was caught and deported. The appeal was dismissed, and after one more denial of entry, the church finally made an exemption application that was ultimately accepted.

Undocumented residents

A couple of Finnish seamen who had defected from their ships, had started a family and acquired a profession or a homestead, were forced to legalize their residence using the waiver process.. Sigfrid Carlson, originally from from Pargas, applied for Canadian citizenship in 1936, and in that context explained his history. Since he had never been admitted to Canada under the official immigration process, he was now required to be exempted under current law.

In 1939, Waino A Mattson, who had defected his ship in 1911 and had worked for the Canadian Marconi company in Montreal for 20 years, got into a similar situation. No details of his Finnish ancestry have been discovered..

Uniting families

Only spouses and children under 18 were admitted by the 1931 law. Fiances, parents, siblings and other relatives were subjected to the exemption process, and usually required that the receiving family guaranteed work on the farm or in the family business, and that suitable Canadian workforce was not available.

Leo Rafael Mäkinen had already been accepted as a minor to become a migrant to his mother Hilma Mäkinen in Vancouver. However, the boy turned 18 before the trip could be arranged in 1934, and an exemption was required. He was, however, granted temporary entry while waiting for the final approval.

Herman Ruusila, together with his wife and two daughters, had come from Vilppula to Canada well before the new legislation, but had afterwards moved to the United States in search for work. The return to Canada in 1937 was not a walk in the park, since the family members in Toronto were the only guarantors to Herman’s upkeep.

Returns from Soviet Karelia

During the depression years thousands of Finns in Canada and United States left to the Sofiet Union to build a better life and society. Many returned disappointed after a few years, and if they had not taken Soviet citizenship they could, to my understanding, return without much trouble.

Ida Hill, born Ida Erika Kangas, went to Soviet Karelia with her husband Henry Hill (Heikki Möttönen from Karstula) and son Urho in 1931, and became a Russian citizen. After Henry’s death – likely executed in Petrozavodsk in 1938 – their son Urho Hill, who had earlier returned to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, applied on behalf of his mother for an entry permit, which was granted on the basis of family reunification. Ida’s family origins in Finland are unknown for now.

Voitto Pohjola was born in Canada into a radical socialist family. He left to Soviet Karelia with his brother Uljas at the age of 19, but wanted to return five years later, after Uljas was arrested in 1938. His mother applied for his admittance, assuring that the boy had learned his lesson.