Immigration

Social Studies 9 · maddyhelps.com

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Circle the best answer for each question. Use the space to note the reasoning or the source detail that decided it.

A history note: "From 1885, most Chinese immigrants had to pay a head tax to enter Canada. It rose to $500 in 1903. No other group had to pay it." What does this source show about early immigration policy?
1. a) It welcomed all newcomers on equal terms, whatever their origin
2. b) It was designed to attract more Chinese settlers
3. c) It discriminated against people based on their origin
4. d) It chose immigrants mainly for their job skills and education
A history note: "In 1914, the Komagata Maru reached Vancouver carrying passengers from British India, most of them Sikh. A rule said immigrants had to arrive by a continuous journey from their home country, and almost all were refused entry." The continuous-journey rule was most likely meant to
1. a) keep out immigrants from India without naming them
2. b) bring more British subjects to settle in Canada
3. c) protect passengers from long and dangerous voyages
4. d) speed up the arrival of immigrants from Asia
What does the Canada–Québec Accord (1991) allow Québec to do?
1. a) Choose its own economic immigrants and help them settle
2. b) Refuse immigrants who were chosen by other provinces
3. c) Decide which immigrants living in Québec become citizens
4. d) Set the rules for deciding refugee claims across Canada
Speaker 1, a restaurant owner in Brooks: "I can't hire enough cooks. Without newcomers, I'll have to close two days a week." Speaker 2, a renter in Calgary: "Rents keep climbing. Population growth should slow until more housing is built." Which statement best describes the two perspectives?
1. a) Speaker 1 opposes immigration; Speaker 2 wants more of it
2. b) Both speakers want Canada to stop immigration entirely
3. c) Both speakers are mainly worried about national security
4. d) Speaker 1 focuses on labour shortages; Speaker 2 on housing
A timeline: 1885, head tax on Chinese immigrants. 1923, Chinese Immigration Act bars almost all Chinese immigrants. 1947, that Act is repealed. 1967, a points system applies the same criteria to all applicants. Which conclusion does the timeline best support?
1. a) Canada's policy treated every applicant equally from Confederation on
2. b) Chinese immigration was fully banned from 1885 until the points system
3. c) Policy moved from open discrimination toward the same rules for all
4. d) The head tax was replaced directly by the points system in 1947
Why has Québec sought more control over choosing its immigrants than other provinces have?
1. a) Québec has more land to settle than any other province
2. b) Immigration affects whether French stays strong in Québec
3. c) Québec is the only province allowed to accept refugees
4. d) The Charter requires Québec to choose its own immigrants
The oath for new citizens now includes a promise to observe Canada's laws, "including the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples." What does this change most directly show?
1. a) Canada now asks new citizens to respect Indigenous rights
2. b) New citizens gain treaty rights when they take the oath
3. c) First Nations must now approve each new Canadian citizen
4. d) The oath no longer asks new citizens to obey Canada's laws
A provincial news release: "Newcomers who land in Calgary or Edmonton rarely move to small towns. The province will now nominate immigrants who have job offers in rural communities." Which problem is the province mainly trying to solve?
1. a) Québec choosing immigrants who would otherwise go to Alberta
2. b) Too many refugees arriving in small towns all at once
3. c) A lack of French-language services in rural areas
4. d) Newcomers settling in cities while rural jobs go unfilled
Amira fled her country after police arrested members of her political party. She fears she will be jailed or killed if she goes back. Under Canadian law, Amira would most likely be considered
1. a) an economic immigrant
2. b) a family-class immigrant
3. c) a temporary foreign worker
4. d) a refugee
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2002), what are the three main classes of permanent immigrants?
1. a) Worker, visitor and citizen
2. b) Skilled, temporary and student
3. c) Provincial, federal and Québec
4. d) Economic, family and refugee

Answer key · Immigration

Social Studies 9 · maddyhelps.com

c) It discriminated against people based on their origin — Charging only Chinese immigrants a fee that rose to $500 was meant to discourage them from coming, so the policy discriminated by origin. The federal government formally apologized for the head tax in 2006.
a) keep out immigrants from India without naming them — No steamship line sailed directly from India to Canada, so the rule blocked Indian immigrants while sounding neutral. The passengers were themselves British subjects, which made the refusal especially pointed; Canada later apologized formally in the House of Commons.
a) Choose its own economic immigrants and help them settle — Québec selects its own economic immigrants, giving weight to French, and runs its own settlement and French-language services with federal funding. Ottawa still grants citizenship and decides refugee claims made in Canada.
d) Speaker 1 focuses on labour shortages; Speaker 2 on housing — Speaker 1 sees newcomers as the answer to a labour shortage; Speaker 2 wants growth slowed, not stopped, because of pressure on housing. Both views are part of the real debate over immigration levels, and the skill is naming what each speaker is weighing.
c) Policy moved from open discrimination toward the same rules for all — The timeline runs from a tax on one group, to a near-total ban, to repeal, to a system that scores everyone the same way. The ban lasted from 1923 to 1947; before 1923, Chinese immigrants could still come if they paid the tax, which is the detail the tempting wrong answer skips.
b) Immigration affects whether French stays strong in Québec — Francophones are a majority in Québec but a small minority in North America, so which newcomers settle there, and whether they live in French, shapes the language's future. Québec is the largest province by area, but that true fact is not why it sought the Accord.
a) Canada now asks new citizens to respect Indigenous rights — The oath was changed in response to a Call to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, so newcomers learn that Aboriginal and treaty rights are part of the country they are joining. Promising to respect those rights does not give new citizens treaty rights, which belong to the First Nations who made the treaties.
d) Newcomers settling in cities while rural jobs go unfilled — Provincial nominee programs let a province choose economic immigrants to fill its own labour needs, and this one targets jobs outside the big cities. Nothing in the release mentions refugees, Québec or language; the problem is where newcomers settle.
d) a refugee — A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Amira fears persecution for her political opinion; she is not being chosen for job skills or sponsored by relatives.
d) Economic, family and refugee — Economic immigrants are chosen for the skills they bring, family-class immigrants are sponsored by relatives in Canada, and refugees are protected because they fear persecution. International students and temporary workers are temporary residents, not immigrants, although many later apply to stay.