Sifton was one of the most energetic and innovative members of the Liberal cabinet. In the fall of 1896, as Minister of the Interior he set out to find more settlers for the West. He improved some accommodations - immigration sheds or halls that had been set up to welcome arriving settlers, he worked with the Canadian Pacific Railway regarding travel arrangements for newcomers, gave bonuses to Companies that brought in immigrants, obtained testimonials from actual farmers, translated these in various languages for overseas use from Scandinavian countries to Greece, did more advertising in the American Midwest and arranged free tours of the territories for American farmers. Sifton invited more Hungarians, a number of them had arrived after 1886 and many more immigrated between 1897 and 1912. Within this time period, Germans, both Lutheran and Roman Catholic groups came to the West, so did large groups from Ukraine which at the time was partly Austrian and partly Russian. The British Isles continued to send large groups of settlers, and more people from Ontario continued the trek westward. Smaller groups of people from a variety of countries also came to settle. One could pass through farmland, villages and towns across the prairies and be told "This settlement is largely Polish, over here there are Rumanians, those colonies are Mennonites, beyond those hills, you see the spire of a Lutheran church built by Norwegians and Swedes; many of these people were actually American citizens, having come to the USA in the 1860s, 1870s, there are two Chinese restaurants in this village, etc." Such was the picture of the prairies for almost a century, before social, economical and technological changes caused a transformation of this landscape forever.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince, Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives, Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722 [email protected]
