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*[[Canada Emigration and Immigration]] – Wiki page with additional larger databases which also include Belgians | *[[Canada Emigration and Immigration]] – Wiki page with additional larger databases which also include Belgians | ||
==== Canada Background==== | ==== Canada Background==== | ||
*Belgian Canadians are Canadian citizens of Belgian ancestry or Belgium-born people who reside in Canada. According to the 2011 census there were 176,615 Canadians who claimed full or partial Belgian ancestry. It encompasses immigrants from both French and Dutch-speaking parts of Belgium. | |||
*People from the Southern Netherlands (present-day Belgium) first arrived in the 1660s. A trickle of artisans came to New France before the 1750s. | |||
*In the mid-19th century there were enough arrivals to open part-time consulates in Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax. | |||
*After 1859 the main attraction was free farm land. After 1867 the national government gave immigrants from Belgium preferred status, and encouraged emigration to the Francophone Catholic communities of Quebec and Manitoba. | |||
*Édouard Simaeys became a part-time paid Canadian agent in Belgium to publicize opportunities in Canada and facilitate immigration. The steamship companies prepared their own brochures and offered package deals to farm families. By 1898 there was a full-time Canadian office in Antwerp which provided pamphlets, lectures and specific travel advice. | |||
*By 1906 some 2,000 Belgians a year were arriving, most with skills in agriculture. | |||
*A third wave of immigration took place after 1945, with urban areas the destination. The 1961 census counted 61,000 Canadians of Belgian ancestry. | |||
*During the Second World War, Belgian émigrés from Canada and elsewhere in the Americas were formed into the 2nd Fusilier Battalion of the Free Belgian Forces, which was based in Canada.<ref>'''Belgian Canadians", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Canadians, accessed 3 May 2021.</ref> | |||
===Sweden=== | ===Sweden=== | ||