[16][17][18] The majority of these migrants came from territories controlled by Austria-Hungary for political and economic reasons, and only a small number came directly from Independent Serbia.
[17] Those who settled were typically young single men and employed in mining or forestry near such towns as Phoenix, Golden Prince Rupert and Kamloops.
[24] Communities of Serbs emerged in Regina, Lethbridge, Edmonton and Calgary while significant populations formed in Atlin, British Columbia and Dawson, Yukon.
[27] Many early Macedonian immigrants found industrial work in Toronto, either as factory hands or labourers in abattoirs, or in iron and steel foundries.
Macedonian entrepreneurs and their descendants eventually employed their numerical strength within the food service industry as a catapult into a variety of larger and more sophisticated ventures.
[28] An internal 1910 census counted 1090 Macedonians in Toronto, who were principally from Florina (Lerin) and Kastoria (Kostur) then in Ottoman empire.
The latter were restricted in their freedom of movements, had to wear special identity cards and had to identify themselves regularly at the police station.
[34] Physicist Mihajlo Pupin, Serbia's consul in New York during the war, and Antun Seferović, the honorary consul of Serbia in Montreal, advocated for the rights of the classified aliens and internees through diplomacy via the Srpska Narodna Odbrana u Kanadi (Serbian National League of Canada) which resulted in exemption, compensation and the release of many ethnic Serbs.
[35] Another advocate for the rights of Serbs of Austro-Hungarian origin was Serbian-born court interpreter Bud Protich, who enlisted in the Canadian Army and was wounded in action in 1917.
[14] After the Second World War, Serbian political émigrés who were opposed to the newly established Yugoslav communist government sought refuge in Canada.
Shortly after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, a large group of Serbs moved to Canada, mostly to Southern Ontario.
This was a major brain drain, with educated Serbs fleeing serious economic problems and an undemocratic government.
[16] The traditional centers of residence and culture for Bosnian Canadians are located in Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton and Calgary.