The threat of secondary migration in 1889

“The Western Reserve is much larger, contains a great many more young men who are also more enlightened, numbers of them knowing the English language thoroughly. These wish to spread out and unless good inducements are held out to retain them on this side of the boundary line, they may do a great deal of harm.“

Library and Archives Canada holds many reports that were submitted to the Minister of Agriculture, who from Confederation until 1892 was also the Minister responsible for immigration matters. This report was submitted by Henry C. Jacobsen, a “Dominion Government Intelligence Officer” based out of Winnipeg, to Minister John Carling.

Responding to concerns that Mennonites who had settled in Manitoba were planning to move to the United States, Jacobsen undertook a visit to the “Eastern Mennonite Reserve”. His observations and conclusions address a concern that persists to the present day – the secondary migration of those migrants whose expectations or needs are not being fully met.