Conspicuous by their Absence: French Canadians and the Settlement of the Canadian West

Green, Alan; MacKinnon, Mary; Minns, Chris

doi:10.1017/s0022050705000306

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…The early bound on this period of contact is provided by the dates of incursion of fur traders into the Western interior [∼1710 (24)], and the later bound is provided by historical and demographic analyses indicating that westward migration of French Canadians ceased in the latter half of the 19th century for economic and other reasons (25).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal of Mycobacterium tuberculosis via the Canadian fur trade

Pepperell

Granka

Alexander

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Patterns of gene flow can have marked effects on the evolution of populations. To better understand the migration dynamics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , we studied genetic data from European M. tuberculosis lineages currently circulating in Aboriginal and French Canadian communities. A single M. tuberculosis lineage, characterized by the DS6 Quebec genomic deletion, is at highest frequency among Aboriginal populations in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta; this bacterial lineage is also dominant among tuberculosis (TB) cases in French Canadians resident in Quebec. Substantial contact between these human populations is limited to a specific historical era (1710–1870), during which individuals from these populations met to barter furs. Statistical analyses of extant M. tuberculosis minisatellite data are consistent with Quebec as a source population for M. tuberculosis gene flow into Aboriginal populations during the fur trade era. Historical and genetic analyses suggest that tiny M. tuberculosis populations persisted for ∼100 y among indigenous populations and subsequently expanded in the late 19th century after environmental changes favoring the pathogen. Our study suggests that spread of TB can occur by two asynchronous processes: ( i ) dispersal of M. tuberculosis by minimal numbers of human migrants, during which small pathogen populations are sustained by ongoing migration and slow disease dynamics, and ( ii ) expansion of the M. tuberculosis population facilitated by shifts in host ecology. If generalizable, these migration dynamics can help explain the low DNA sequence diversity observed among isolates of M. tuberculosis and the difficulties in global elimination of tuberculosis, as small, widely dispersed pathogen populations are difficult both to detect and to eradicate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal of Mycobacterium tuberculosis via the Canadian fur trade

Pepperell

Granka

Alexander

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Similar to many current contexts, employment opportunities for women were concentrated in particular industries such as textile manufacturing (Waldron, 2005), suggesting that the possibility of finding a job in the destination may have been key in determining female income gains from migration. Second, Quebec's proximity to New England meant that out-of-pocket migration costs were small to most potential destinations (Green, MacKinnon and Minns, 2005). 4 Furthermore, well-established communities of French Canadian migrants and their Franco American descendants in New England could have mitigated additional costs by providing information on housing and job possibilities, influencing how migrants sorted across counties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The certificates were collected by another inspector at the border ports, where immigrants were registered using manifest list or immigration cards.15 We followSt-Hilaire et al (2007) to classify Canadian localities.16 Train fares from Montreal to Boston were only $6.50 and $8.50 from Halifax to Boston circa 1900. These fares were roughly equivalent to a few days of income for an unskilled laborer at the time(Green, MacKinnon and Minns, 2005).17 We identify as British Canadians those individuals indicating ethnic origins that were English, Irish, Scotch, or Welsh.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Gender Differences in Migrant Sorting: Evidence from Canada-Us Migration

Escamilla-Guerrero,

Lepistö,

Minns

2023

SSRN Journal

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“…Abramitzky, Boustan, and Eriksson, ‘Europe's tired, poor, huddled masses’; Green, MacKinnon, and Minns, ‘Conspicuous by their absence’; Minns, ‘Income, cohort effects, and occupational mobility’.…”

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confidence: 99%

Settler skills and colonial development: the Huguenot wine‐makers in eighteenth‐century Dutch South Africa

Fourie

Fintel

2013

The Economic History Review

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The institutional literature emphasizes local conditions in explaining divergent colonial development. We posit that this view can be enriched by an important supplyside cause: the skills with which the settlers arrive.The Huguenots who arrived at the Cape Colony in 1688/9, we argue, possessed skills different from those of the incumbent farmers, and this enabled them to become more productive wine-makers. We demonstrate this by showing that this difference is explained by none of the standard factors of production, nor by any institutional differences between the French and the Dutch. We observe that a group of Huguenot descendants from wine-producing regions maintained their advantage in wine-making at the Cape over several generations.This disparity cannot be satisfactorily explained as resulting from first-mover advantage or social capital. Specialized skills gave the Huguenots from wine-producing regions a sustained competitive advantage. Our results show that colonial institutions are shaped not only by whether immigrants settle or not, which legal system they adopt, or their language, religion, or beliefs, but by the set of skills, knowledge, and experience brought from their country of origin. As such, crosscountry comparisons may blur much of the detail when we analyse the effect that settlers have on the destination country.

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Conspicuous by their Absence: French Canadians and the Settlement of the Canadian West

Cited by 10 publications

References 10 publications

Dispersal of Mycobacterium tuberculosis via the Canadian fur trade

Dispersal of Mycobacterium tuberculosis via the Canadian fur trade

Explaining Gender Differences in Migrant Sorting: Evidence from Canada-Us Migration

Settler skills and colonial development: the Huguenot wine‐makers in eighteenth‐century Dutch South Africa

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