Cover Image
QR Code

Naturalising Subjects, Creating Citizens: Naturalisation Law and the Conditioning of ‘Citizenship’ in Canada, 1881–1914.

This article examines the evolution of naturalisation in Canada between the Canadian Naturalization Acts of 1881 and 1914. During this time, the meaning of ‘British subject’ transformed from signifying a permanent allegiance to the sovereign to a status that conferred ‘citizenship’. Despite claims t...

Full description

Published in:Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 1 - 22
Main Author: Price, Peter
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jan2017
Subjects:
Naturalization policy
British colonies
Immigrants
Citizenship
History
Canada
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:This article examines the evolution of naturalisation in Canada between the Canadian Naturalization Acts of 1881 and 1914. During this time, the meaning of ‘British subject’ transformed from signifying a permanent allegiance to the sovereign to a status that conferred ‘citizenship’. Despite claims that naturalisation had become more modern, it was largely conditioned by understandings of racial community in the British Empire.