Order-in-Council P.C. 1911-1324

Due to a rise in anti-black racism in the southern United States that followed, among other things, the introduction of the Jim Crow laws, Canada experienced an influx of interest from prospective black immigrants in the early twentieth century.[2]

A rapid flight of African-Americans from the southern states caused land prices in the northern states that border Canada to skyrocket. For instance, land prices in North Dakota were twenty-five times higher than those in Saskatchewan by 1900.[2] The Canadian government, meanwhile, was interested in bolstering the burgeoning agriculture industry in western Canada, and saw this as an opportunity to attract American immigrants to Canada. The Canadian government set up immigration offices throughout the United States, and advertised vacant farmland in American newspapers and magazines, including those with predominantly black readerships.[3] For instance, the Saint Paul Broad Axe—a newspaper with a predominantly black readership—featured messages from the Premier of Manitoba inviting readers to migrate to Canada. The lack of colour distinctions in this advertising led prospective black immigrants to believe they would be welcomed in Canada.[2]

Some 1,500 African Americans—a relatively small number when compared to the hundreds of thousands of white American farmers who made the move—immigrated to Canada between roughly 1905 and 1912, settling mainly in the agriculture-driven western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.[3]

In 1910, the government passed a new law that enhanced the government's discretionary powers to regulate the flow of immigrants into Canada. This reform gave the Governor in Council (i.e., the Governor General, by and with the consent of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada) the authority to prohibit members of specific races or other groups from entering Canada.[7] Section 38 of the Act, which was referenced in the Order-in-Council, stated that:

The Governor in Council may, by proclamation or order whenever he deems it necessary or expedient, — (c) prohibit for a stated period, or permanently, the landing in Canada, or the landing at any specified port of entry in Canada, of immigrants belonging to any race deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada, or of immigrants of any specified class, occupation or character.[8]

In around 1910, white prairie farmers—many of whom were motivated to settle in Canada by not only the cheap land prices, but also Canada's lack of a "black problem"—became increasingly disgruntled by the influx of black immigrants.[2] This was exacerbated after a fifteen-year-old girl, Hazel Huff, accused a black man of assaulting her in her home and robbing her. Although the accused was promptly arrested, Huff later admitted to having fabricated the incident.[9]

On March 31, 1911, the Edmonton chapter of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire—which, at the time, focused on the promotion of British imperialism—petitioned the Minister of the Interior by saying that "[black] immigration will have the immediate effect of... discouraging white settlement in the vicinity of the Negro farms and will depreciate the value of all holdings within such areas."[10]

On April 3, William Thoburn, the Conservative member of Parliament for Lanark North in Ontario, asked in the House of Commons whether Prime Minister Laurier intended "to place any restrictions on or to stop altogether negro immigration from the southern states into" Canada. After questioning whether "negro colonization" was in Canada's interests, Thoburn went on to ask, "would it not be preferable to preserve for the sons of Canada the lands they propose to give to niggers?" The question was deferred to Minister Oliver, who declined to enact such restrictions unless they were passed by Parliament, and said that "any person coming from another country into Canada and having the necessary qualifications is entitled to a homestead, and negroes get free homesteads the same as any other people."[11] Oliver's response to the question was contradicted by his eventual proposal, since orders-in-council do not require the approval of Parliament—only that of the governor general, on the Privy Council's recommendation.[12]

Laurier's Liberal Party subsequently lost the election on September 21, 1911.[16] On October 5, 1911—mere days before Canada's next ministry, led by Prime Minister Robert Borden, was poised to take office—the order was repealed on the basis that Minister Oliver as not present when it was approved in August.

The text of Order-in-Council P.C. 1911–2378, which repealed Order-in-Council P.C. 1911–1324, was as follows:

P.C.2378.

AT THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE AT OTTAWA,

PRESENT

HIS EXCELLENCY

IN COUNCIL:

His excellency in Council is pleased to Order that the Order in Council of the 12th August, 1911, prohibiting, for a period of one year, the landing in Canada, of any immigrant belonging to the Negro race, shall be and the same is hereby cancelled, said Order in Council having been inadvertently passed in the absence of the Minister of the Interior.

[Laurier's signature][4]