Belgian Canadians first arrived in the 1660s. A trickle of
artisans came to New France before the 1750s. In the mid-19th
century there were enough arrivals to open part-time consulates
in Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax. After 1859 the main
attraction was free farm land. After 1867 the national
government gave immigrants from Belgium a preferred status, and
encouraged emigration to the Francophone Catholic communities of
Quebec and Manitoba. Edouard Simaeys became a part-time paid
Canadian agent in Belgium to publicize opportunities in Canada
and facilitate immigration. The steamship companies prepared
their own brochures and offered package deals to farm families.
By 1898 there was a full-time Canadian office in Antwerp which
provided pamphlets, lectures and specific travel advice. By 1906
some 2000 Belgians a year were arriving, most with skills in
agriculture. A third wave of immigration took place after 1945,
with urban areas the destination. The 1961 census counted 61,000
Canadians of Belgian ancestry.