Canada (Province). Emigration Office

• Emigration Office

• Canada (Province). Emigrant Office

The Emigration Office was created within the Bureau of Agriculture in 1852 or 1853, replacing the existing Emigrant Office, which had been an agency under the authority of the imperial government. The final annual report to the Colonial Office in London was sent in 1854. 1854 was also the last year of the annual imperial grant which had long supplemented the provincial budget for matters relating to immigration.

The head of immigration services was now theoretically the Minister of Agriculture, but during this decade, the bureau relied on Chief Emigrant Agent, A.C. Buchanan (Jr.), to administer the agency to a large degree. A.B. Hawke, Chief Emigrant Agent for Canada West, continued to take orders from and report to Buchanan, though he also consulted occasionally with the Minister of Agriculture on matters such as approval of staff appointments and budgets. The Emigration Office took its place under a full-fledged Department of Agriculture in 1862.

The Emigration Office was better integrated as part of the Department of Agriculture and Statistics than it had been under the Bureau. Hawke and his successor, J.A. Donaldson, still continued to report to Buchanan as well as to the Minister of Agriculture, however.

The Emigration Office ceased to exist in 1867 after the passage of the British North America Act (now the Constitution Act). After this time, the federal and provincial governments shared responsibility for immigration. At that time, Ontario established an Immigration Branch which was part of Department of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Public Works.

The Emigration Office assisted newly-arrived immigrants to the Province of Canada by providing provisions and temporary shelter, and by helping them to find medical care, employment, and transportation to their final destination. Most of those served by the agency were poor or in need of special protection (e.g. widows and orphans). In addition, emigrant agents initiated work projects for immigrants to enable them to earn some income after their arrival. Agents were also responsible for recording statistical information on immigration patterns and local living conditions, including job availability, cost of living, country of origin, age, occupation, arrival, and final destination.

RAD: Rules for Archival Description, 2nd edn (2008)

2026-11-16: migrated to AtoM

Bishop, Olga. Publications of the Government of the Province of Canada 1841-1867. Ottawa: National Library of Canada, 1963.

Hodgetts, J.E. Pioneer Public Service: An Administrative History of the United Canadas, 1841-1867. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1955.

Archivist(s):
Shimpo