Deportation and Canada's Immigration Act

• Why was deportation of the immigrants with mental disorders preferred? How did this "solution" come about?

  It was an alternative to improving access to mental health institutions and services. This solution came about when medical superintendents forged alliances with bureacrats, immigration officials, and racist groups.
• What were the justifications of the deportation of immigrants with mental health disorders?

  Officials had complained that Canada had become a dumping ground for the unwanted and unfit. This coincided with conversations of eugenics. This bolstered the argument for deportation of mental health grounds.

  • Eugenics: The study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable.