Throughout the nineteenth century, Canada attracted vast numbers of immigrants,the great majority of whom came from the British Isles. According to official statistics, from 1871 to 1901 alone, more than 1.5 million immigrants came to Canada. Of these, however, hundreds of thousands did not stay; they either went on to the United States or returned to their homelands. Although QuÄbec was not very attractive to the immigrants because of its relatively limited job opportunities, it did take in thousands of British, Scottish, and Irish immigrants. The Irish, in particular, provided a large part of the manpower QuÄbec needed for canal and railway construction and factory work. This illustration from L'Opinion publique (May 13, 1875) shows a group of immigrants from different social classes on board a British ship bound for Canada in 1875.
