A new interpretation circuit and relaxation areas now decorate your walk in a historic village.
Immigration levels fluctuated throughout the 19th century in keeping with the crises affecting Europe, be they famine, conflict, religious repression. Prior to Confederation, 84% of immigrants to Canada hailed from the British Isles, and by coming to North America, they hoped to acquire land and achieve prosperity. Upon arriving at the port of Québec, more than half of them headed on to the United States. The era also coincides with the creation of an Irish diaspora across North America. Irish immigrants accounted for close to 50% of the total immigration transiting through the port of Québec prior to 1867.
Afterwards, the recruiting of immigrants would be given greater structure. Canadian authorities would actively seek farmers of greater financial means with a view to peopling and settling western Canada. The federal government went so far as to give new settlers 
farm acreage free of charge. From the 1860s until 1880, and more specifically in 1873, Scandinavians fleeing famine accounted for close to 30% of the immigration total. Thereafter, a new influx of immigrants began to arrive from Eastern Europe. A combination of religious intolerance, territorial conflicts and shortage of farmland prompted thousands of Slavs to cross the Atlantic. Nevertheless, the British Isles continued to supply the majority of the new arrivals.
Between 1906 and 1914, 50% of all immigrants to Canada transited through the port of Québec - i.e., 1,037,794 individuals. Of this number, close to 40% did not originate in the British Isles. During the 105 years that the quarantine station was in operation, 7,553 people were buried on Grosse Île and 31,829 were hospitalized out of the 4,120,375 immigrants who landed at Québec. It is not possible 
to establish the exact number of immigrants who stayed at the quarantine station, but several hundred thousand would be a realistic estimate.
