Between 1928 and 1971, nearly one million immigrants landed in Canada at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. During those years, it was one of the main ocean immigration facilities in Canada, including when it welcomed home nearly 400,000 Canadians after service overseas during the Second World War. In the immediate postwar period, Pier 21 became the busiest ocean port of entry in the country.

Today, people across Canada still enjoy connections to Pier 21 through family history and stories of arrival at the site. Since 1998, researchers at the Pier 21 Interpretive Centre and now the Canadian Museum of Immigration have been conducting interviews, reviewing archival materials, gathering written stories, and acquiring photographs, documents, and other objects reflecting the history of Pier 21.

Pier 21: A History builds upon the resulting collection. It presents a history of this important Canadian ocean immigration facility during its years of operation and later emergence as a site of public commemoration.

Published in English. Also available in French: Quai 21: Une histoire.

About the Author
Steven Schwinghamer is a historian at the Canadian Museum of Immigration and holds an MA in History from Saint Mary's University. His research and writing focuses on the immigration facility at Pier 21.

Reviews
"Pier 21: A History is an energetic effort by Steven Schwinghamer and Jan Raska, two resident historians of the museum, to share representative stories of countless would-be Canadians - among them thousands of Italians like my father, uncle, and grandparents - who came through this gateway. It is also the story of evolving immigration policies, which were gradually liberalized within the narrow parameters of twentieth-century Canada. And though it was not the authors' intention, a reflection on our nation's immigration history and the hard-earned march toward greater cultural openness feels especially pertinent in the wake of COVID-19, which has closed down international borders, paused global migration almost entirely, and brought a spike in anti-foreigner sentiment.
(...)
Schwinghamer and Raska's clear-eyed examination of immigration policies, through the lens of a single port of entry, demonstrates the impressive and hard-won gains of our modern immigration system." -- Matthew Lombardi * Pier Review *


Awards
Short-listed for 2020 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, History 2021. Long-listed for Canada's History's 2020 Book & Gift Guide 2020.



Book Information
ISBN 9780776631363
Author Steven Schwinghamer
Format Paperback
Page Count 277
Imprint University of Ottawa Press
Publisher University of Ottawa Press
Weight(grams) 533g