A block settlement (or bloc settlement) is a particular type of land distribution which allows settlers with the same

ethnicity An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

to form small

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

. This settlement type was used throughout western Canada between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some were planned and others were spontaneously created by the settlers themselves. As a legacy of the block settlements, the three Prairie Provinces have several regions where ancestries other than British are the largest, unlike the norm in surrounding regions. The policy of planned blocks was pursued primarily by Clifford Sifton during his time as Interior Minister of Canada. It was essentially a compromise position. Some politicians wanted all ethnic groups to be scattered evenly though the new lands to ensure they would quickly assimilate to Anglo-Canadian culture, while others did not want to live near "foreign" immigrants (as opposed to British immigrants who were not considered foreign) and demanded that they be segregated. At the time, Canada was receiving large numbers of non-British, non-French, immigrants for the first time, especially

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = Flag of Italy, The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , ...

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

ns, and

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Or ...

. The newcomers themselves wanted to settle as close as possible to people with a familiar language and similar customs. The government did not want the West to be fragmented into a few large homogeneous ethnic blocks, however. So several smaller colonies were set up where particular ethnic groups could settle, but these were spaced across the country.

American

African American

Mormon

Cardston founded in 1887 was the first Latter-day Saint settlement in Alberta.

Anabaptist

Hutterite

Hutterites Hutterites (german: link=no, Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the early 16th century ...

are German-speaking Anabaptists who live in communal agricultural colonies. They have 188 colonies in Alberta, 117 in Manitoba, 72 in Saskatchewan and 3 in British Columbia. These Canadian colonies began with 18 colonies founded in 1919
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Mennonite

The Manitoba government set aside the Mennonite East Reserve now in the

Rural Municipality of Hanover The Rural Municipality of Hanover is a rural municipality (RM) in southeastern Manitoba, Canada, located southeast of Winnipeg in Division No. 2. It is Manitoba's most populous rural municipality and fourth-most populous municipality overall ...

and the Mennonite West Reserve now in the Rural Municipality of Rhineland and the Rural Municipality of Stanley for the new Russian Mennonite immigrants coming to the province beginning in 1874. Most spoke

Mennonite Low German Plautdietsch () or Mennonite Low German is a Low Prussian dialect of East Low German with Dutch influence that developed in the 16th and 17th centuries in the Vistula delta area of Royal Prussia. The word ''Plautdietsch'' translates to "flat (o ...

.
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Mennonite communities originally part of the East Reserve, Manitoba include: Mennonite communities originally part of the West Reserve, Manitoba include: Mennonite communities originally part of the Scratching River Settlement, Manitoba include: Saskatchewan settlements
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Early Alberta settlements began in La Crete,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

Didsbury, Alberta Didsbury is a town in central Alberta, Canada at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is located next to Alberta Highway 2A, near the Queen Elizabeth II Highway. Didsbury is within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. Didsbury is approximatel ...

1901 Early British Columbia settlements began in

Yarrow, British Columbia Yarrow is a small community located 90 kilometres east of Vancouver within the City of Chilliwack in British Columbia, Canada. It is in the Fraser Valley at the foot of Vedder Mountain. The village was first settled by Mennonites in the late 1920 ...

and Abbotsford, British Columbia 1911

British

Meaning: people coming directly from the United Kingdom, not English-speaking people from Ontario or Atlantic Canada.

British Canadian

Meaning: settlers from

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrad ...

, primarily Ontario, and mostly of British and Irish origins.

Dutch

Eastern European

Ashkenazi

Many of the Jewish immigrants to Canada came from settlements in Eastern Europe, including

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

(later the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Doukhobor

In Saskatchewan Doukhobors, numbering 7,500, settled in three blocks in the North-West Territories (now in Saskatchewan) from 1899 to 1918. They established 61 communal villages on .
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British Columbia (1908-1938)
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Alberta

Finnish

Hungarian

Old Believers

Romanian

Ukrainian

Ukrainian settlements with approximate date of founding
Map
: *

Edna-Star, Alberta The Edna-Star colony, also called the Nebyliv colony, or the ''Ukrainian block settlement'' is the largest and oldest of the Ukrainian Canadian block settlements. Located east of Edmonton, in east-central Alberta, the boundaries of the block ...

(1892). Founded by the original Ukrainian Canadian pioneers Iwan Pylypow and Wasyl Eleniak, this is the oldest and largest of the Ukrainian block settlements and was once considered the largest Ukrainian community in the world outside Eastern Europe. It is now the world's largest eco-museum, called Kalyna Country, which includes Sturgeon County, Thorhild County, the

County of St. Paul No. 19 The County of St. Paul No. 19 is a municipal district in eastern central Alberta, Canada. Located in Census Division No. 12, its municipal office is located in the Town of St. Paul. History It was previously known as the ''Municipal Distr ...

, the County of Vermilion River, the County of Two Hills No. 21, the County of Minburn No. 27, Beaver County, Lamont County, and Strathcona County, and many of the neighbouring towns and cities.
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*Manitoba settlements included

Stuartburn, Manitoba Stuartburn is a small, primarily Ukrainian community in southeastern Manitoba, Canada and situated in the Rural Municipality of Stuartburn. Stuartburn is considered to be the first Ukrainian community in western Canada. The town is located west ...

(August 1896), Dauphin, Manitoba (September 1896).

Interlake, Manitoba The Interlake Region is an informal geographic region of the Canadian province of Manitoba that lies roughly between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The region comprises 14 rural municipalities, one cit ...

(June 1897), Shoal Lake, Manitoba (April 1899) and Whitemouth, Manitoba. *Saskatchewan settlements were in the

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue C ...

- Candiac area (1895–96), the Yorkton– Canora–

Preeceville Preeceville is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada. The town is 10 km (6 miles) west of Sturgis and 99 km (62 miles) north of Yorkton at the junction of Highway 49, Highway 47, Highway 9 and near Highway 755. Demographics In the 202 ...

area in eastern Saskatchewan, the Rosthern– Yellow Creek– Cudworth area north of Saskatoon and the Radisson– Hafford–Whitkow area east of North Battleford.

French

These include French Canadians from Quebec, French Americans, and Francophones from France, Belgium, and Switzerland. La Cathédrale, Gravelbourg, SK

Alberta British Columbia Manitoba Saskatchewan

German

German settlement began in the prairie provinces in the 1890s and continued until the 1920s during the homesteading period. Some also came to the region after the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Canadians of German ethnicity remain numerous in the prairie provinces. Most of these settlers were Catholics and Lutherans, with minorities of Mennonites and Baptists.

German colonies

St. Joseph's Colony (Katharinental) was established from 1886-1904 in southern Saskatchewan. St. Joseph's Colony (Josephstal) was established in 1905 in west-central Saskatchewan. Villages in this Saskatchewan colony included St. Peter's Colony in Saskatchewan. founded in 1903 in Saskatchewan was 4,662 square kilometres (1,800 square miles) in size. It included 50

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

; townships 35 to 40, ranges 18 to 22, and townships 37 to 41, ranges 23 to 26 of the Dominion Land Survey west of the 2nd

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

. 8,000 settlers had arrived in the colony by 1910 and by 1930 it was home to 18,000 Roman Catholics. Most were German Catholics. Between 1903 and 1925 parishes were established at

Indigenous

Métis

Some French settlements were founded by Francophone Métis from the Red River settlement in

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Win ...

. Many began as Métis hivernants buffalo hunting camps from the 1840s to the 1870s.

Scandinavian

Danish

Icelandic

* Vatnabyggd was an Icelandic settlement of about 2,000 square kilometres in Saskatchewan south of Fishing Lake and the Quill Lakes. By 1911 it had attracted over 1,600 Icelanders. Vatnabyggd included the settlements of Kristnes, Saskatchewan (1903), Dafoe (1905),

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...

(1905),

Wynyard Wynyard may refer to: Australia: *Wynyard, Sydney, the district of Sydney CBD around Wynyard railway station, Sydney *Wynyard Park, Sydney *Wynyard, Tasmania *County of Wynyard, in the Murrumbidgee–Tumut region of New South Wales Canada: *Wynya ...

(1904),

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

(1903), Elfros (1903), Leslie (1907), Holar, Saskatchewan (1905), Mount Hecla, Saskatchewan (1904) and Foam Lake (1892).
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*Near

Churchbridge, Saskatchewan Churchbridge is a town in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, located at the junction of the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), and Highway 80. Churchbridge is a part of the rural municipality of Churchbridge 211, which is located within Sask ...

were the settlements of Thingvalla-Logberg and Vallar *

New Iceland New Iceland ( is, Nýja Ísland ) is the name of a region on Lake Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba which was named for settlers from Iceland. It was settled in 1875. Background In 1875, over 200 Icelanders immigrated to Manitoba es ...

(Nja Ísland) (1875-1897) was located on the southwest shore of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. The Rural Municipality of Gimli and the Rural Municipality of Bifrost are within the old settlement area. New Iceland contained the settlements of Gimli, Riverton,

Hnausa Hnausa which roughly translates to "uneven ground" is a small community located in the area known as New Iceland in Manitoba's Interlake Region. It is 6 miles, or approximately 10 kilometres, south of Riverton, and is situated on Breidavik (which m ...

and Arborg.
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*Other Icelandic settlements in Manitoba included Baldur, Erickson, Geysir, Manitoba, Glenboro, Lakeview, Manitoba, Lundar, Morden and Reykjavik *

Markerville, Alberta Markerville is a hamlet in central Alberta, Canada within Red Deer County. It is located north of Highway 54, approximately southwest of Red Deer. Markerville was the home for many years of Stephan G. Stephansson, famous in modern Icelandi ...

Norwegian

Swedish

References

External links

provides a map of the entire province showing all major ethnic bloc settlements.

page about the history of the Ukrainian settlements in East-Central Alberta
Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village
is a living history village 50 km east of Edmonton, Alberta which focuses on the experiences of Ukrainian immigrants and the block settlements.
Multicultural Canada (Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Block Settlement * * * Settlement schemes Linguistic geography of Canada