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Manitoba History: National Designation for William Hespelerby Parks Canada
On 19 February 2007, at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall at the University of Winnipeg, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada unveiled a plaque commemorating William Hespeler. Entrepreneur, immigration official, Commissioner of Immigration and Agriculture, politician and philanthropist, Hespeler was recognized as a figure of national historic importance because of his key role in the settlement and development of Western Canada.
Hespeler left his native Germany at 19 to join his brother and sisters who had settled in Canada. Upon his arrival, he took up residence in the German-speaking community of Waterloo, where his elder brother had already founded several companies. The two brothers turned out to be excellent businessmen, thereby continuing their family’s mercantile tradition. Toward the middle of the 1860s, however, William grew tired of business; as he approached his forties, he made a career change and became an immigration official for the Dominion of Canada.
In 1872, Hespeler was posted to Germany for a few months where he was interested primarily in the recruitment of immigrants from southwestern Germany and Alsace-Lorraine; however, the conditions were not favourable. He then turned to the German-speaking Mennonite communities in Russia and went there to meet some of their leaders. Although not a Mennonite himself, Hespeler was quickly won over and regarded the Mennonites as a superior class of immigrants. His stay in Russia was full of pitfalls, however. On the one hand, the Czar had Hespeler followed by the police because formal recruitment was not allowed on Russian soil. On the other, Hespeler had to contend with the attraction exerted by the American West, which was more southerly and more populated. Consequently, to recruit Mennonites, he had to make use of effective publicity and encourage the Government of Canada to make attractive offers to the immigrants. His approach succeeded and he finally had positive results. He returned to Canada, settled in Winnipeg, and co-ordinated the arrival of some 7,000 Mennonites from Russia between 1874 and 1880. This was the first great wave of immigrants to Manitoba, the one that demonstrated the enormous agricultural potential of the Canadian Prairies.
Hespeler was then Commissioner of Immigration and Agriculture for Manitoba and the Northwest Territories, a position that he held until 1883 and one that enabled him to continue attracting immigrants to the Prairies and to contribute to the area’s economic development. Subsequently, he exercised the duties of German Consul in Manitoba and participated in politics between 1899 and 1903. During the approximately 45 years that followed his settlement in Winnipeg, Hespeler also took part in various philanthropic activities and became very involved in Winnipeg’s German-speaking community, whose culture he wanted to protect.
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Page revised: 26 October 2019 |
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