Thousands of Slavs, unhappy with conditions in Eastern Europe, immigrated to Canada at the turn of the century. Clifford Sifton, who was instrumental in settling these people on the prairies said of them: "I think a stalwart peasant in a sheepskin coat born to the soil, whose forefathers have been farmers for ten generations, with a stout wife and half a dozen children, is good quality." Such a settler had to be stalwart and could use half a dozen children as they were in many cases one of his few vital resources. He did not speak English and came to a society and landscape totally unlike his home. He was often exploited by merchants and landlords until he became more self-sufficient.
