Hungarian Waves of Migration to Canada

First Wave - As the 19th Century Ended

    Europe and especially Hungary faced conflicting government struggles and economic problems during the 1800's. The revolutionary war of 1848–1849 saw the start of the first wave of pioneers to Canada that ended with the First World War temporarily blocking immigration. British North America and especially Canada had offered available land and food production capacity unseen at home and as 1867 saw the creation of Canada its government actively encouraging immigration to solve labour shortage problems. Coincidentally the formation of the Austro Hungarian nation, at that same time, set up the First World War and resulting Treaty of Trianon that fuelled the next wave of migration as people lost what it had meant to be Hungarian.

    It was not until 1924 that Canada again allowing anyone from ‘enemy’ lands to migrate. The Hungarians eventually accepted were from the areas that Hungary no longer controlled that had been transferred to other nations. That end to the First World War brought into focus Canadian jobs in manufacturing as opposed to a facing loss of their Hungarian significance.