The Fighting Bishop: George Exton Lloyd and the Immigration Debate

George Exton Lloyd made a considerable impact on Saskatchewan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Among his many achievements, he fought in the 1885 rebellion, helped settle the Barr colonists in what is now Lloydrninster, attracted teachers and missionaries to the west and served...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Waiser, W.A.
Published: 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10388/5909
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Summary:George Exton Lloyd made a considerable impact on Saskatchewan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Among his many achievements, he fought in the 1885 rebellion, helped settle the Barr colonists in what is now Lloydrninster, attracted teachers and missionaries to the west and served as Anglican Bishop in the Diocese of Saskatchewan during the 1920s. Providing the inspiration for his various activities and occupations was one all-encompassing desire: to create a Canada for the British. This thesis focuses on Lloyd's attitude towards a group that threatened this "ideal," the non-British immigrant, and assesses his impact on the immigration debate that raged in the country during the late 1920s. As long as the numbers of "manageable," Lloyd was content to foreigners focus his remained providing for their education and assimilation. energy on When the numbers became "too large," however, Lloyd dedicated himself to restricting immigration. In the late 1920s, after the Railways Agreement was signed, Lloyd engaged in a vigorous campaign, opposing the new agreement and calling for quotas on non-British immigrants. This thesis concludes that he had a substantial impact. Not only did he affect common perceptions of the immigrant in the West, he also helped force the federal government to make changes to its immigration policy, and he helped contribute to the defeat of a provincial government.