From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Hungarians/Nandor F. Dreisziger
The Canadian economy of 1900 was based on farming, logging, and mining. Young men were needed for backbreaking, usually hazardous, and invariably seasonal work. In spring and summer, work could be had in agriculture; in fall and early winter, in coal mines; and in mid-and late winter, in logging camps. Young men who could not tolerate hard physical work or were injured on the job were often condemned to a marginal existence.
Hungarian settlement started in the southern regions of what became Alberta and Saskatchewan. The best-known was established in southeastern Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle valley, in 1886, near present-day Esterhazy, named for immigration agent Paul Oscar Esterhazy, who brought the first groups of Hungarian settlers to Canada from the United States. Life on the Canadian prairies was difficult, but by 1900 the colony had stabilized and a new Hungarian settlement began near Stockholm. By this time most residents were arriving directly from Hungary. Elsewhere in Saskatchewan and Alberta other Hungarian peasants were establishing small settlements.
During the late nineteenth century Hungarians from the United States were also appearing on Canada’s mining frontier, particularly in western coal mines. Hungarian coal miners were working near Medicine Hat, in the Crow’s Nest Pass area, and in Lethbridge, where a Hungarian colony acted as a focal point for Magyar social life.
Many Magyars settled in urban areas in the late nineteenth century – in Winnipeg, in other prairie urban centres, and in industrial or mining towns in central Canada and Nova Scotia. Many came by way of the United States, usually to work in a newly opened mine or foundry or on some construction project.
World War I affected the internal migrations and geographic distribution of Canada’s Hungarian communities. The war economy increased demand for industrial labour, and many immigrants left the agricultural frontier for temporary employment in urban centres in southern Ontario or on the west coast. After the war they remained there and encouraged families and friends to join them for employment opportunities and the milder climate, which resembled Hungary’s. Colonies in Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne, St Catharines, Welland, and Windsor, Ontario, all grew substantially. Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver acquired the beginnings of a Magyar settlement.
The renewed influx from 1924 on revitalized community life. Most of the new arrivals became agricultural labourers on the prairies, while a few tried homesteading, mainly on the northern periphery. These marginal farmlands had to be abandoned when climatic or economic conditions deteriorated.
Within a few years, many of the newcomers moved to prairie cities, especially Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, and Saskatoon. Some went further afield. Hamilton, Ontario, with close to 3,000 Magyars, became the de facto capital for Hungarians in central Canada, and the enclaves in Winnipeg and Vancouver also grew. Urban colonies began emerging in Toronto and Montreal as well. Montreal, with close to 4,000 Hungarians by 1941, had the nation’s largest concentration in the 1940s and 1950s.
Immigrants still found initial employment in agriculture, mining, or logging. But they usually managed to get away from this type of work faster than their predecessors. City jobs, however, rarely proved steady or attractive. Only occasionally did factories or construction offer long-term employment.
In terms of social and cultural adjustment, little had improved since early in the century. The state continued to leave immigrants on their own once they had arrived in Canada. Learning English (or French) was difficult for people working in isolated places among employees who themselves were only a little more fluent. Hungarian newcomers, often with limited education, rarely acquired more than a smattering of English. Lack of language skills condemned many to menial work indefinitely.
Before 1929 some immigrants earned reasonable incomes and even saved money, but their lives were hardly fulfilling. Like the old immigration, the new wave was made up mainly of young males; women of marriageable age were scarce. The men might bring out girlfriends, acquaintances, or, as a last resort, “picture brides.” Furthermore, many localities lacked Hungarian churches and secular halls. Most of the newcomers lived in physical and social isolation.
A few immigrants prospered, found suitable Hungarian spouses, and made close friends. Some of these, along with a few second-generation Hungarian Canadians, broke away from their lower-class existence. A handful of middle- and upper-class Hungarians also became well-off. By the end of the 1920s, there are references to successful homesteaders, ranchers, and small businessmen, young men in universities, and even a few professionals.
The Depression made settling down and adjusting more difficult, so that a sizeable portion of Canada’s Hungarian community became involved in resettling. As a result of the sharp economic downturn, as well as climatic problems on the prairies, farming and farm work were often no longer profitable. Some homesteaders reverted to subsistence farming, but others abandoned their homesteads and moved elsewhere. Men who had made a living in mining or lumber headed for the cities in search of work. A veritable exodus from the prairies resulted. Simultaneously, Hungarian colonies elsewhere grew – that of Welland, Ontario, by more than 1,000 people in this period – or new ones started. Hungarians began establishing themselves in the tobacco district of southwestern Ontario, first as farm hands, then as share-croppers, and later as farmers. Others moved to southwestern Alberta, where sugar-beet production was not as badly hit as prairie grain growing. There they joined recently settled countrymen. Other small fruit-farming and gardening colonies began emerging in British Columbia’s Okanagan and Lower Fraser River valleys.
World War II improved economic conditions for most Hungarian Canadians. During its last phases, many immigrants found work in wartime industries, with lots of overtime available. They could save money, pay off mortgages, buy luxury items, and even send children to university. The war caused a further shift from farm to city, and from the prairies to central Canada, especially to Montreal and Toronto.
Though the government directed most post-1945 displaced persons to the west, which still needed menial workers, most such people soon moved to the cities, principally to the metropolitan areas of central Canada, where their extensive skills or fine educations soon got them much better positions. Integrating into Canadian society was sometimes more problematic for these new arrivals than getting better-paying jobs. Anti-Hungarian prejudices lingered after the war, and Canadians rarely accepted displaced persons as social equals. As well, the newcomers found it difficult to accept the fact that former peasants had solid financial standing, while they themselves were penniless. The resulting friction abated over time.
Most of the “1956-ers” settled in the cities, especially in Montreal and Toronto. Large Jewish communities there attracted Hungarian Jewish refugees. Other groups of Hungarians headed for Vancouver, the large prairie cities, as well as Halifax, Hamilton, Ottawa, and Winnipeg. In some localities the Hungarian population doubled or even quadrupled.
Adjustment was somewhat easier for the refugees than for the displaced persons of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Hungarian refugees were generally welcomed by the Canadian public. Murmurs of protest – that they might take jobs away from Canadians, or not integrate well – were few and far between. Some people had left Hungary so precipitously, however, that they experienced post-emigration trauma. Separation from family, friends, and familiar surroundings led to depression, and a handful returned to Hungary. Some regarded the pace of economic advancement as too slow. Their generous welcome had persuaded them that starting life anew in Canada would be easy. At first, most Hungarians already there did their utmost to help the refugees, but later friction arose, as often happens when two waves of immigrants interact. New arrivals often envied the success of “old” immigrants, while some of the latter felt that newcomers lacked the perseverance and willingness to start life at the bottom of the social pyramid.
Those who arrived in the late 1950s were mobile, often settling finally in “little Hungaries,” where they found social and cultural life, as well as medical, financial, and legal services, in a Hungarian context.
By the 1960s most Hungarian refugees had integrated socially. They had learned English (or French) reasonably well and had got used to Canadian ways, assisted by government programs. Television, that powerful instrument of cultural integration, also did its work. Though males outnumbered females among refugees, the 56-ers found greater social acceptance among Hungarians and Canadians at large than did earlier Hungarian immigrants.
Social integration, itself related to economic adjustment, promoted economic integration of the newcomers. Knowledge of one official language and familiarity with Canadian ways and customs opened a greater variety of opportunities, and many newcomers prospered and sought good education for their children. The fact that they wanted to attain their objectives faster than other Canadians was the result of Hungarian pride and resourcefulness and of the immigrants’ determination to do better than native-born fellow citizens. The Hungarian-Canadian community and its institutions helped in both economic and social integration.
Post-1960 immigrants usually settled in existing Hungarian concentrations and received government assistance. Most gravitated to metropolitan Toronto, which had more Hungarians than Montreal by the 1970s.
