Opening the West to white settlement was the basic objective of Canada when it purchased Rupert's Land in 1869, and the 1870s saw considerable movement of immigrants into the North-West Territories. During these years, the multicultural characteristic of the Prairies started to take shape. Between 1874 and 1878, the first large group of 6,000 German-speaking Mennonites came from Russia and received eight complete townships in southern Manitoba. In 1872, an Icelandic settlement was established at Gimli on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. In spite of a severe winter and a smallpox epidemic the following year, the Icelanders stayed on and Gimli became the model for numerous other Icelandic settlements that were established in other parts of Canada.

A variety of factors caused the first wave of immigration to Canada, but certainly diminishing economic prospects for both the urban and rural classes in Europe caused many to emigrate. Ethnic and religious persecution caused other groups, such as the Mennonites and Doukhobors, to leave their homelands. What made immigration to Canada attractive for many was the Dominion government's promise of exemption from military service for religious pacifist groups.

Although the federal government initially accepted pacifist groups because it needed agricultural settlers in the West, more established groups in Canada often felt threatened by the growing number of new cultures, new languages, and new perspectives. When the first major test of Canadian national identity arose during the First World War, pacifist groups were not exempt from nativism and outright discrimination.

Groups such as the Russian-speaking Doukhobors and German-speaking Mennonites opposed war as inherently evil and immoral. Although they remained free from conscription during the war, this exemption was not without ridicule from many proconscriptionists. Because the Mennonites were German-speaking and more numerous, their position was particularly vulnerable. To demonstrate loyalty and to improve their relations with more-established Canadians, Mennonite communities made substantial contributions to the Red Cross, the Patriotic Fund, and bought large amounts of Victory Bonds. Nonetheless, the Canadian government responded to the increased antagonism by barring any further immigration of Doukhobors, Mennonites and Hutterites (who had arrived in Alberta in 1918) between the years 1919 and 1922.