Exiles or entrepreneurs? Snapshots of the Scots in Canada

Were Scottish emigrants to Canada unwilling exiles or adventurous entrepreneurs? Was emigration an escape route for the poor and persecuted or an avenue of advancement for the ambitious? While the evidence, not surprisingly, suggests both, it is clear that hope was nearly always a much stronger sentiment than despair or resignation. This study explores various dimensions of emigration from Scotland to Canada – particularly in the nineteenth century – with reference to the inducements that attracted the emigrants, the relationship between their expectations and their experiences, and the impact they made on Canadian society from the Atlantic to the Pacific