Immigration has been a prominent aspect of Canada’s make-up, and the effects of immigration on the nation’s economy and society continue to be debated. Largely ignored in the grand narrative of Canada’s multicultural history is the recognition of a first wave of immigrants of Lebanese descent who settled in Canada at the turn of the twentieth century. Little is known about the adaptation process that these immigrants were compelled to navigate during their settlement experience on the newly developed northern frontier of Ontario. These pioneer immigrants were instrumental in building and supporting the northern Ontario communities that would become the foundation for Canada’s mining industry. This thesis argues that the domains of family, work, and community engagement were significant factors in facilitating the process of adaptation and acculturation of early Lebanese immigrants to Canada.
Using a narrative phenomenological approach to research, the emphasis was on understanding the roles that family, work, and community played in facilitating acculturation and adaptation of early immigrants. These roles were evident in the life story testimonies of ten descendants of the pioneer immigrants who immigrated to northern Ontario circa 1900. The last surviving elders, children of the pioneer immigrants, ranged in age between 79 and 93 and were born and raised in the northern Ontario mining communities of Cobalt, New Liskeard, Haileybury, Kirkland Lake, Cochrane, and North Bay. Findings were organized under three analytic categories: a) the role of the traditional family b) early immigrants’ role in peddling and entrepreneurship c) community engagement.
A documentary film entitled Finding a Silver Lining is included in Chapter Five of the thesis and serves as an annex to the written text. A form of digital storytelling, the film interweaves historical events from the time period between 1900 and 1930 with video clips from participant interviews, archival images, and recorded audio narration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/43673 |
| Date | 13 January 2014 |
| Creators | McKernan, Catherine |
| Contributors | Cameron, Linda |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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