Between 1900 and 1910, close to a million immigrants sailed across the Atlantic to Canada. Approximately half that number came from Britain. A large percentage of the others came from Europe, the majority from central, eastern and southern Europe. The Laurier government came under increasing criticism from Anglo-Canadians about the "quality" of immigrants arriving in western Canada. The Rev. J.S. Woodsworth spoke for many westerners in 1909, when he wrote: "Within the past decade, a nation has been born.... But how shall we weld this heterogeneous mass into one people? That is our problem".