Urbanisation

Toronto, Canada. Photo credit: raw.shooter/Instagram

Do you live in a city? The city that you live in likely experienced some form
of urbanisation. Urbanisation is an event that occurred in Canada’s history that
caused the mass migration of the population to cities. Urbanisation is the most
historically significant event that built and shaped Canada, because it helps the
population of major Canadian cities today, influenced many people past and
present to settle in urban centres, and reveals why the population rests mostly in
urban centres today.
 Toronto, a crowded celebration for the Boer war in 1901
Canada is mostly defined by its major metropolitan cities, such as Toronto
and Montreal. According to toronto.ca, the population of Toronto was 7.6% of
Canada’s total population in 2021. The level of urbanisation in an area can
determine the number of immigrants that choose to migrate to that city. Immigrants
often send a portion of their income back to their family or friends in their origin
country, which is why a highly urbanised city with high wages appeals to this
specific group. Many of these immigrants seek a better life for their families and
children. Immigrant families tend to be more attracted to highly developed
metropolitan areas, as there are higher-quality education opportunities for children
than in the countryside. Along with education, communication is made a lot easier
with the dense population and easy internet access, which is a major necessity to
immigrants who need to establish social connections and build new relationships.
In summary, urbanised cities can be more appealing to immigrants for the higher
average wages, higher-quality education opportunities, and easier communication.
 An urban city versus a rural community
Urbanisation influenced thousands of people past and present to move from
rural areas to urban centres. In 1871, approximately 19% of the Canadian
population lived in an urban centre, compared to 45% in 1911. The population
continued to migrate to urban centres, as a whopping 81% of the population lived
in an urban centre in 2011, according to the Canadian Encyclopaedia. Before
urbanisation, the majority of Canadians lived in rural communities, leading an
agriculture-centred lifestyle. Many Canadians started to move to urban centres in
the 1920s, when the number of urban factories were starting to increase and many
had the prospect of prosperity for their families.
An Irish advertisement for the ship the Pittsburgh that ferried people from Belfast in Northern Ireland to
Canada. Image credits: Library and Archives Canada.
Furthermore, urbanisation reveals why the population rests mostly in urban
centres today. Many factors alongside urbanisation encouraged Canadians to settle
in cities. One of these major factors was the first immigration act created in 1869.
The Immigration Act of 1869 was the first of its kind following Canada’s
confederacy. It mainly focused on preventing immigrants from being exploited
upon their arrival and protecting immigrants during their travel to Canada. Its
purpose was to settle Canada West with immigrants, as Canada was beginning to
become worried about the United States’ expansion and to assist in the growth of
the population and economic prosperity of Canada. Closely following the
Immigration Act of 1869, the telephone and the radio were invented. This allowed
for better communication between the population, and for the first time, people
could contact each other from over 1000 miles. However, the Bell Telephone
Company, who ran a monopoly in telecommunication services at the time, was
often heavily criticised by rural communities for its lack of service in non-urban
areas. This made many people have the need to move to a city, as this new form of
communication was a lot faster and easier than mailing letters. The radio was also
invented around this time, and it was a major part of communication in World War
1. WW1 was another contributing factor combined with urbanisation that
encouraged Canadians to move to cities. During WW1, the need for ammunition
and weapons was so great that factories were created and mass produced these
items. Once the war was over, these leftover wartime factories were used to mass
produce luxury goods, such as cars and electric lights. With the need for efficient
mass production, came the need for workers. These factories contributed to the
migration of more immigrants and people from rural communities, as they sought
factory jobs that offered higher wages. Overall, the major contributing factors
alongside urbanisation that encouraged the migration to urban centres were The
Immigration Act of 1869, the telephone and the radio, WW1, and urban factories.

Downtown construction in Calgary, Alberta, June 20, 2014. Photo credits: Larry MacDougal
In conclusion, urbanisation is the most historically significant event. It
checks all the boxes for the historical criteria, as it is relevant to today by still
influencing people to move to major metropolitan areas, resulted in change by
influencing thousands of people to move to Canada’s cities, and reveals the past by
revealing why the population rests mostly in urban centres today.

Works Cited
“,.” , - YouTube, 19 May 2023, https://www.nature.com/scitable/content/life-
expectancy-around-the-world-has-increased-19786/. Accessed 11 February
2024.
“,.” , - YouTube, 19 May 2023,
https://cjc.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.22230/cjc.1995v20n2a863. Accessed
11 February 2024.
Belanger, Gerald. “Telephone History — MarmoraHistory.ca.” Marmora
Historical Foundation, https://www.marmorahistory.ca/telephone-history.
Accessed 10 February 2024.
“Canada A Country by Consent: The Roaring Twenties.” Canada History
Project, https://www.canadahistoryproject.ca/1920s/. Accessed 10 February
2024.
“Canadian Institute for Health Information.” Canadian Institute for Health
Information,
https://yourhealthsystem.cihi.ca/hsp/inbrief#!/indicators/011/life-
expectancy-at-birth/;mapC1;mapLevel2;/. Accessed 11 February 2024.
“Civilization.ca - The History of Canada's Public Pensions.” Civilization.ca
- The History of Canada's Public Pensions,
https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/pensions/cpp-a15-
dl_e.html. Accessed 11 February 2024.
“The Daily — Immigrants make up the largest share of the population in
over 150 years and continue to shape who we are as Canadians.” Statistique
Canada, 26 October 2022, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-
quotidien/221026/dq221026a-eng.htm. Accessed 10 February 2024.
Dubenskij, Charlotte. “World War One: How radio crackled into life in
conflict.” BBC, 18 June 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-
27894944. Accessed 11 February 2024.
“Immigration in Canada: Statistics & Facts.” Statista, 1 February 2024,
https://www.statista.com/topics/2917/immigration-in-canada/#topicOvervie
w. Accessed 10 February 2024.
Ipsum, Liora. “2016 Census: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are home to
one-third of all Canadians | News.” Daily Hive, 8 February 2017,
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2016-census-toronto-montreal-and-
vancouver-home-to-one-third-of-all-canadians. Accessed 10 February 2024.
O'Neill, Aaron. “Canada: life expectancy 1800-2020.” Statista,
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041135/life-expectancy-canada-all-
time/. Accessed 11 February 2024.
Shephard, Tamara, and Tamara - Shephard. “Radios, automobiles, electric
lights mark the 1920s | Life | toronto.com.” Toronto.com, 5 October 2017,
https://www.toronto.com/life/radios-automobiles-electric-lights-mark-the-
1920s/article_0b151324-4b11-5c2d-b57d-663732ea52f6.html? Accessed 11
February 2024.
Tennant, Amie. “1920s Radio and Music in America.” FamilySearch, 25
June 2020, https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/1920s-radio-music-
america. Accessed 11 February 2024.
“3.5 Urbanization and Industry – Canadian History: Post-Confederation.”
BC Open Textbooks, https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation/chapter/3-5-
urbanization-and-industry/. Accessed 11 February 2024.
“Timeline (1914 - 1921) | A World at War | Articles and Essays | Stars and
Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919 |
Digital Collections | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress,
https://www.loc.gov/collections/stars-and-stripes/articles-and-essays/a-
world-at-war/timeline-1914-1921/. Accessed 11 February 2024.
“urbanisation — European Environment Agency.” European Environment
Agency, https://www.eea.europa.eu/help/glossary/eea-glossary/urbanisation.
Accessed 11 February 2024.
“Urbanization is 'new normal' for Canada, report says.” Toronto Real Estate,
11 November 2014, https://www.sg.jeffreyteam.com/urbanization-new-
normal-canada-report-says/. Accessed 11 February 2024.
Van Dyk, Lindsay. “Canadian Immigration Acts and Legislation | Canadian
Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.” | Canadian Museum of Immigration at
Pier 21, https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/canadian-
immigration-acts-and-legislation. Accessed 10 February 2024.
“Working Class History: English Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 17
December 2013,
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/working-class-
historyenglish-canada. Accessed 11 February 2024.