Discours et pratiques transnationales. La YWCA et l'immigration au Canada (1918-1939)1.

At the intersection of the history of women’s movements, history of civil society, migration policy and social work, this article examines the approach that the women of the Canadian Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) took toward the issue of immigration and the work they undertook with migrants during the 1920s and 1930s. Following an initial time (from the 1870s to the post-war period), when the legal reform and the nationalization of immigration policies were predominant, a transnational approach to assisting immigrants emerged within the YWCA. In the context of the post-war period, when the federal state intervened in the reception of migrants and called for the closure of borders, the YWCA forged close ties with major international organizations rising in Europe. Transcending the imperial and national spheres, and orienting itself toward a less sectarian and no longer women-oriented action, throughout the 1930s the Canadian YWCA contributed to the emergence of a new humanitarian and transnational approach to assisting migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]