From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Dutch/Herman Ganzevoort
Prior to 1950 the great majority of Dutch who emigrated to Canada were rural men who were recruited for their agricultural skills and who were attracted to Canada by the opportunities in that field. Some had owned or rented land in the Netherlands, but most had been unable to do so because of the scarcity of that resource and a lack of capital. Imbued with a strong work ethic, a willingness to adapt their skills, and a desire to achieve economic independence, they accepted jobs as farm labourers in hopes of becoming owners. Starting in the 1890s, Dutch farmhands made their appearance in the Canadian west, where they quickly garnered a reputation as reliable, skilful, and ambitious workers. However, they clearly regarded their employment as temporary and stayed only until they had become acquainted with Canadian methods and had acquired enough capital to begin on their own. The settlements at Nobleford, Neerlandia, Strathmore, Cramersburg, and Edam testified not only to the immigrants’ desire to acquire land but also to their ability to master the techniques of prairie agriculture. They proved that they were well able to compete in the mixed grain and livestock farming that dominated the western provinces, and their involvement in the growing and distribution of vegetables in and around Winnipeg indicated a willingness to exploit new opportunities. By 1914 they had clearly made a promising start in Canada.
After World War I, although farmhands continued to be recruited for western farms and the Dutch settlements, the prairies lost their attraction. British Columbia held some appeal, but it was Ontario, with its mixed agriculture and its developing industrial base, that seemed to offer the greatest economic opportunity in the 1920s. Immigrants found a steady demand for their services from dairy, fruit, vegetable, and mixed farmers. The Dutch could be found in almost every district west of Toronto, which itself soon became an important centre of settlement. Winter was the most difficult period since farmers seldom had enough work to keep a permanent farmhand. Some workers drifted into the cities looking for jobs in manufacturing, service industries, and construction. Others turned to the mines, mills, and forest industries that dotted the Ontario northland. Manufacturing jobs offered what farm work could not – year-round employment – and the urban centres quickly became a focus for those who sought their future off the farm.
In the immediate post–World War II era, the Dutch settlements in Alberta and British Columbia proved important sources of work and provided the means for the rapid dispersion and settlement of the newcomers. The community in and around Winnipeg functioned in much the same fashion. In Ontario the demand for immigrants exceeded the supply. Fruit, dairy, tobacco, and mixed farmers eagerly welcomed the families, who now made up the bulk of the new migration. These immigrants, however, valued their independence, and given the chance, they soon replaced the ageing farm owners who had been their employers. However, as Canada became increasingly industrialized in the post-war period, the demand for non-agricultural workers grew.
Skilled and non-skilled labourers came to take up jobs in practically all sectors of the industrial economy, and the Dutch community began to change from one that was largely rural and agricultural in character to an urban industrial and service-oriented society. As demand in the agricultural area diminished in Ontario, immigrants interested in this field turned their attention to Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. Agricultural pursuits initially predominated in these areas, but urban centres and expanding job markets soon drew the children and grandchildren of the settlers away from the farms.
The same conditions that influenced young Dutch men to emigrate in the period 1890–1960 had an important effect on women. Prior to the 1930s, occupational opportunities for women in the Netherlands were limited in both the city and the countryside. Traditionally, their role was restricted to that of housewife and mother or to a temporary lower-status job as a factory operative. Advancement and training were practically non-existent. Domestic service was poorly remunerated, and marriage often had to be postponed because of a lack of money. Canada, however, offered well-paid employment for domestics in both urban and rural areas, with wages comparable to those of an inexperienced farmhand. The demand was so great by the 1920s that eligible domestics were advanced 50 percent of their passage money if they agreed to sign a one-year contract. An applicant had to have sufficient money for travel costs, be between eighteen and thirty years of age, and have a certificate of good health, adequate experience, and a guaranteed job. Employment could be arranged in the Netherlands through the Canadian immigration office.
Many young women saw emigration as a chance to advance themselves economically, live in new places, meet new men, and experience adventure. Others wanted to join fiancés or families. The Canadian government sought to direct domestic immigration to the rural west, but the majority of women preferred to be employed in the cities, where the workload was significantly lighter and the opportunities to meet compatriots greater. If such a placement could not be found immediately, the women waited out their time until they had learned Canadian customs. Domestic servants probably never made up more than 4 or 5 percent of the total emigration from the Netherlands to Canada, but they were nevertheless an important element in the migration movement.
More significant to the long-term success of the Dutch in Canada was the role of women in general. Settlers on the prairies prior to 1914 recognized that women were essential for homesteading. Bachelorhood was seen by most men as a temporary state. The civilizing process that turned wild grassland into farmsteads was more than mere sod breaking. The founding of a new society demanded the contribution of women. They rocked the cradle, stooked the grain, mended the overalls, and carried out a thousand tasks that were essential for survival. They often made the difference between success and failure since they kept the farm going when husbands worked for other farmers or on railway construction. Dutch women, like other prairie women, were an indispensable part of the settlement process.
In the 1920s a wife was often regarded as part of the employment agreement: her husband worked on the farmer’s land while she was employed in the house. When necessary, she or her daughters took up domestic service in the neighbourhood or in town. Particularly in the Depression, women sold butter and eggs to pay for such necessities as shoes. During the two world wars, when their husbands were in the armed services, many women ran the farms on their own, sometimes with outside labour, sometimes not. They carried out most of the tasks, including operating equipment, feeding the animals, and bringing in the harvest.
The revival of Dutch immigration after 1947 presented new opportunities and challenges to both married and unmarried women. Farmers who contracted with Dutch families sometimes assumed that the female labour was part of the contract. Such was generally not the case since women now demanded remuneration for hoeing sugar beets, tying up grapes, harvesting fruit, milking cows, and doing the other tasks that the employers expected of them. Many women took up domestic service in nearby towns and villages, and employment was also sought in canning and basket factories and other agriculturally allied industries. After the Dutch began to settle in the cities in the 1950s, women were as likely to be found working on the assembly line as cleaning homes for Canadian families. Access to educational opportunities in the 1960s and 1970s meant that the daughters of immigrants began to enter technical and professional fields.
Urban and industrial employment has presented difficult choices for some men and women in the Dutch Neo-Calvinist community. They have been opposed to membership in secular unions for religious reasons; they regard such membership as promoting ideals that are antithetical to their Christian beliefs. Most of the community have compromised by accepting union membership, but some workers have attempted to remain outside the union, have challenged Sunday labour requirements and automatic union check-offs in the courts, or have formed independent locals based on Christian principles. The Christian Labour Association of Canada, founded in the 1950s, has slowly spread across the country and attempts to play a meaningful role in the employer-employee dialogue.
A desire to achieve economic betterment but remain as independent as possible led many immigrants to establish their own businesses. Stores catering to the needs of the community sprang up in response to a demand for Dutch products. In rural areas, pedlars, often linked to an urban store, met the needs of the scattered farm immigrants. Initially many business people saw their own community as their natural market, but they soon broadened their focus to include the larger Canadian society. Exploiting their Dutch training and their Canadian experience, immigrants soon became involved in a variety of fields. During the 1950s and 1960s the Dutch seemed to dominate the gardening and landscaping business, and they expanded into the greenhouse production of flowers and vegetables. However, as the second and third generation achieved higher levels of education, they moved into the professions, the civil service, and the corporate world.
