Gerhard P. Bassler is Professor of History at Memorial University of Newfoundlad. He holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of Kansas. Dr. Bassler is the author of numerous articles on German- speaking migrations. Sanctuary Denied is his third book.
"For those who like their history in sugar-coated form, this will be a bitter pill to swallow. But, by being so hard hitting, I think this will generate healthy public and scholarly debate and, maybe, even some retrospective soul seacrhing."
Harold Troper
author of None is Too Many (with Irving Abella)
Based on hitherto unknown Newfoundland, Canadian, British and German government documents, this is the first book length inquiry into Newfoundland immigration prior to Condederation in 1949. Sanctuary Denied sheds new light on the preservation of Newfoundland's culturally "distinct" homogeneous society and its endemic difficulties.
Refuting a widespread assumption that pre-Confederation Newfoundland was unable to attract immigrants, Dr. Bassler identifies numerous requests involving thousands of potential immigrants eager to move to Newfoundland in the half century prior to Confederation. Despite the existence of a uniquely liberal refugee law from 1906-1949, Newfoundland immigration policy developed a tradition of refusing asyllum to all refugees and of departing and exluding non-British immigrants as undesirable. The analysis of this immigration record raises intriguing questions about the legacy of nationbuilding in Newfoundland.
Of Related Interest from ISER BOOKS.
Lisa Gilad
The Northern Route:
An Ethnography of Refugee Experiences |
All Prices are in Canadian Dollars
