Canadian West

This poster compares Canada's "Last Best West" to the American New Eldorado. The poster shows images of farmlands, crops, and homesteads that were available to prospective settlers. The images are surrounded by a brief description of the good things about coming to western Canada and decorated with strands of wheat and maple leaves (a tree that is not native to western Canada). The associated texts attempt to get rid of potential fears of a "wild" west.

In the 1910s and 1920s, the format and style of immigration posters changed a lot. The earlier information-based posters were switched with big colourful designs that combined familiar native images with views of prosperity. This would give a sense of their home, but very prosperous because of the golden grain on most of the posters. Rather than include information on immigration in the poster itself, the new posters were designed simply to excite the viewer's interest. A contact name was listed on the poster for those wanting further information.

The Canadian government did their best in trying to get people over to live in western Canada. They made it look like the best place to live. They only put things that appealed to the viewer’s eye and not any type of warning. On this poster the border and wheat and maple leaves are all the colour gold. This makes the reader think about riches and the gold they can make from selling their wheat. At the top of the poster it says “Western Canada, the new Eldorado”. This slogan is comparing western Canada to the American Eldorado. They are saying though advertising, that Canada is better than the American Eldorado. Everything just looks so fancy in the west.

There are three pictures on this poster. They all show a land flowing with milk and honey. I think it kind of looks like a comic strip. One picture shows a man on a road with a horse drawn buggy. This shows someone coming to the west. The next picture shows a piece of land with a nice house and trees. This shows that the settler has settled into his new western home. In the third picture it shows a huge field with tons of piles of harvested wheat. This is the last picture in the comic strip and shows the big harvest that you will get when coming to western Canada. On the bottom of the poster is a box with the information of the person they need to get in contact with if they want to immigrate. There is one image that is not like the rest. It is dark blue and says “free 160 acres Western Canada farm lands”. This is one of the things that attracted my eye right away because it stood out. It would have attracted the eye of the settlers because of the huge give-away of land.

There are many texts on this poster. They are meant to get rid of the thoughts of western Canada being an uncivilized place or dangerous or something. The saying “homes for everybody” says to viewers that there is plenty of space to live in. the text “easy to reach” comforts the people that the journey out west will not be a difficult one. The texts “nothing to fear” and “protected by the government” give a sense of peace to the settlers because they are reminded that they have people looking over them and will not be living in the wilderness with no one else. On the right side of the poster are texts that relate to farming. It says “wheat land”, “rich virgin soil”, “land for mixed farming”, and “land for cattle raising”. The Canadian government is saying that the land can be used for basically anything. There is never been used before soil and its good soil so it can be used for wheat or other crops. It also says that the land is good for cattle raising. On the bottom is says “This is your opportunity why not embrace it?” this is pretty much a challenge to make them come to western Canada. The texts are telling the people that the west is a good place to move to because of all the benefits.

The images, texts, slogans and colour are a symbol of great wealth and prosperity. The gold colour is a symbol of great wealth. The images are a symbol of great excitement to have/be made. The pictures symbol good weather and farming.

The Canadian government did a good job in bringing people to western Canada through the use of posters. But was it all the truth? Much of today’s advertising has fake/false stuff in it. They only have the stuff people want to see and what is interesting. They, for the most part, do not put the precautions and things down. I mean, who would? You want people to buy your stuff. The thing is, if something bad happens to your company and someone sues it for something that happened to them while using your product, it could ruin your business. You want to put precautions down to tell the truth and to protect your business.