Norwegian

Norwegian immigration to the United States and Canada was enormous when it's recognized that more than half of Norway's population moved to the New World. Only Ireland had a larger propertion of its people go to North America. Many originally went to the United States, then finding land unavailable or too expensive they headed for Canada.

The Norwegians settled in Saskatchewan and Alberta in huge numbers. They built their homesteads all over the Prairies, but most of all in a broad belt roughly stretching from Estevan (in Southeast Saskatchewan) to Saskatoon, the Battlefords, Camrose and Edmonton. Their communities reflected their heritage as they established their own churches and schools. The Norwegian language was predominant in their early communities for some time.

The immigrants suffered hardships as they struggled to homestead. It wasn't an easy life, especially in the 1930s. Hit by the Depression, drought and dust storms, many lost hope and abandoned their homesteads: their golden highway of hope and dreams shattered as they struggled to survive. Many Norwegian homesteaders from Southwest Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta headed for the Peace River District and British Columbia. Others returned to Norway. Many stayed, survived and thrived.

Those who settled in British Columbia became involved in the fishing and canning industries. Some settlers penetrated far into the inner valleys of B.C where they worked in logging and farming. In the 1940s, British Columbia industries attracted Norwegian Canadians living in the Prairies as did the large urban and industrial areas of Ontario.

Today, Norwegian Canadians are the largest of the Nordic groups in Canada. British Columbia claims the greatest population of Norwegian Canadians and Saskatchewan claims 5% of their population from that ancestry. In fact, Canadians of Norwegian descent can be found in all provinces and territories of Canada.

Canada is still attracting Norwegians as a new homeland: they are being drawn to Newfoundland where they work on the development of the province's offshore oil fields and to large urban centres.

Norwegian Canadians were major contributors in settling and cultivating the Prairies, to Canadian politics and Northern exploration. Many were dynamic in starting up Western populist organizations that were community-based such as the C.C.F. party in Saskatchewan and the Social Credit in Alberta. They also made a significant contribution to sports through the introduction of cross-country skiing to Canada.
(Credit: Heritage Canada)