Between 1896 and the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, about two million settlers from Europe and the United States poured into the Canadian prairies in the single greatest wave of immigration in Canadian history. This compelling chapter in Canadian history is the focus of a new exhibition opening October 28 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

“Acres of Dreams: Settling the Canadian Prairies” revisits this unprecedented marketing campaign led by the federal government to lure immigrants into Western Canada. It examines the origins, motivations and experiences of the settlers who forever changed the prairie landscape and who played an essential role in building Canada.

The exhibition highlights the dazzling array of posters, pamphlets, slogans, contests, traveling displays and lecture tours used in a campaign orchestrated by the government, railway companies, steamship lines and other vested interests. The invitation to settle the Canadian prairies – touted with slogans such as “Free Farms for the Millions,” “The Land of Opportunity” and “The Last Best West” – was accepted by individuals and families from as far away as Russia. “Acres of Dreams” also contrasts the candy-coating of the sales pitch to the often harsh reality of life in the prairies in the early 1900s; the promise of bountiful crops was frequently shattered by drought, grasshoppers and frost.

The exhibition underscores to the efforts of religious and cultural leaders in French Canada who sought to establish a French Roman-Catholic stronghold in the West, most notably around the community of St Albert, Alberta, still an important enclave of francophone culture today.

Through a combination of letters and texts, a variety of audio, video, historical artifacts and the Dramamuse theater production, Saskatchewan As Far As the Eye Can See, this exhibition gives voice to the settlers of yesteryears.

“Acres of Dreams: Settling the Canadian Prairies” was developed by the Canadian Museum of Civilization in collaboration with Library and Archives Canada. It will be presented at the museum until January 29.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization is at 100 Laurier Street. For information, www.civilization.ca or 800-555-5621.