In Search of Work – the Life of Croatian Immigrant Men in Canada between the Two World Wars

• Main Author: Snježana Ružić
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies 2002-12-01
• Series: Migracijske i Etniĉke Teme
• Subjects: emigration; Canada; social history; everyday life; men; work camps
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/158461
• ISSN: 1333-2546; 1848-9184

In this article the author attempts to describe the life of Croatian immigrants in Canada duringthe interwar period. She looks at how emigration to Canada effected family life, especially for men who went abroad in search of work and higher earnings. To begin the article, the author surveys the existing historiography, in particular the new trends in social history that examine the everyday life of “average” men and women which have opened new approaches in immigration history, paying less attention to the political and diplomatic events surrounding migration studies. Her methodological approach follows concepts developed by the “new” social history and is based on a theoretical concept of masculinity. The major primary source for her research is Canadian/Croatian Voice which was printed in Canada in Croatian, but she also leans heavily on important historiographical literature concerning Croatian immigrants in Canada. In her article the author provides a short survey of the emigration of Croatians to Canada which grows after an agreement was signed in 1925 between the Canadian government and the two large railway companies, Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway. The major portion of the work examines the life of Croatian men in isolated labour camps, the hard working conditions, the constant search for work, and the psychological effects of long years of separation from family. Men leave for Canada with the intent of staying for only a certain period of time in order to bring money back home. But in the event of the economic crisis created by the Great Depression, low wages, and periods of unemployment, the length of the stay in Canada grows, creating frustration among the immigrant men as well as their families back home. In conclusion, the author shows how improving economic conditions in Canada in the mid 1930s coupled with worsening conditions in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia led most men to find steady employment in cities and decide to remain in Canada. In this case, their families soon emigrate to Canada to rejoin their husbands and fathers. The author speculates thus that Croatian immigrant communities in Canada become more rooted and develop social and cultural organizations of a more complex nature.