Residential Segregation of the Canadian Population in the United States, 1880-1930

Evan Roberts, University of Minnesota

More than a million Canadians lived in the United States in the early twentieth century. Canadian migrants' integration into the United States social structure is important in understanding the experience of a large migrant group, and because linguistic differences among Canadian migrants can shed light on how migrants and natives interact. In some regions, such as New England, French-Canadians formed distinct communities. Elsewhere French-Canadians were a small part of the diverse population in the northern United States. An important indicator of social integration into a community is whether immigrant groups live near their own, or close to native-born Americans? Canadians in the United States provide an interesting test of immigrant residential segregation. Both Anglophone and Francophone immigrants migrated relatively short distances from Canada. But differences in linguistic ability gave these groups different incentives to live near English-speaking neighbors. Differences in the residential outcomes of Francophone and Anglophone Canadian migrants in the United States highlight the different degree of connection to the native-born community. Francophone residential patterns were distinct in areas with significant Canadian immigrant populations. But across the country, when compared to other “new immigrants” from Europe, Canadians were residentially integrated.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 46. Canadian Migration to the US, 1850-1930:New Studies Mixing Scales and Approaches