From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Themes In Immigration History/Roberto Perin
Before the federal government’s announcement of the policy of multiculturalism in 1971, the field of immigration and ethnic studies – with the exception of a few serious studies – was relatively undeveloped and generally considered unworthy of academic inquiry. Some amateur historians and social commentators filled the vacuum, but they were generally interested in providing their communities with highly romanticized accounts of the presence of these groups in Canada. Such studies often concealed the skeletons in the communal closet and catalogued the group’s achievements beginning at the dawn of Canadian history. Despite their shortcomings, these works provided important sources of information for subsequent scholarship. From the 1970s onward, a niche was found for immigration studies in Canada’s universities. A number of academics did research in the field and encouraged their graduate students to do likewise. Their work has been informed by the general upsurge in social history that has characterized the recent historiography of this and other countries.
Although the achievements of the past quarter-century have been remarkable, significant gaps continue to exist in the scholarship. For example, the Germans, the largest “non-charter” group, remain least studied of Canada’s immigrants. Also, using the approaches and paradigms that have been perfected by social historians, studies of Canada’s most recent immigrants could also be conducted by scholars from a variety of disciplines. Yet depressingly little work has been undertaken in this area at a time when Canada remains a living laboratory for such research. Finally, no one has yet attempted to write a synthesis of the immigrant experience that is both transcultural and comprehensive. At present, the danger is that scholars will rest on their laurels, satisfied with the considerable achievements in the field and enticed by more fashionable research endeavours. They risk failing to stimulate a new generation of scholars who should take up the challenges that the study of immigration and ethnicity has raised.
