M HKA Ensembles

Book

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp.

James Shaver Woodsworth, Strangers Within Our Gates: Or Coming Canadians, 1909
Published by Missionary Society of the Methodist Church
First edition
Collection M HKA, Antwerp 

James Shaver Woodsworth (1874-1942) is famous as a pioneer in the Canada social democratic movement and minister of the Methodist church. As a part of his duties, he preached the social gospel to poor immigrants in Winnipeg. This experience made him question classical Methodist approaches and the Church’s belief in the possibility of individual salvation. As a minister, he advocated for the importance of consideration towards the social context in which an individual lived and the introduction of tests for those entering the Church. An outcome of his continued work with immigrant families in Canada, Strangers Within Our Gates: Or Coming Canadians served as a blueprint for Canada’s 'Immigration Act' enacted soon after the publication of the book. In this book, Woodsworth provides a hierarchy of races and ethnicities based on their ability to assimilate into Canadian society. Those belonging to 'prohibited classes' were deported and denied entry to Canada.