Tag Archives: Canada
The Unsafe Third Country Agreement
by Aditya Rao Since the election of President Trump, small border towns across Canada have seen thousands of asylum seekers cross into Canada. In May of last year, a woman died in the cold while trying to cross the border. This January, the small town of Emerson, Manitoba saw a man cross from the United […]
Open arms, open hearts: Canada’s (belated) response to Syrian refugees
It’s a little over three months since the Government of Canada began expediting the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada, celebrating the open door with the government’s newest hashtag: #WelcomeRefugees. Two months since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waited late into the night at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to help the first planeload of newcomers into […]
What We Need to Learn from the Tragedy in the Mediterranean: The Migrationist talks one-on-one with the UN’s independent expert on the human rights of migrants
In his day job, François Crépeau is a teacher and researcher. As the Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Professor in Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, he researches and writes about migration control mechanisms, the rights of foreigners, the conceptualization of security as it applies to migrants, and […]
Love, Lies and Borderlines
Many years ago, a friend in Europe told me her brother was about to commit marriage fraud. Only we would never have called it that. We were in our 20s and thought it compassionate and noble, not fraudulent, that a gay man was marrying a straight female friend to secure her status in a certain […]
When Welcoming Communities Spark Change
In the news of the unaccompanied minors flooding into the United States this year, it would be easy to focus on how the arrival of thousands of children has sparked a backlash from overwhelmed border communities. The numbers are staggering, the needs extensive – how can people cope? But there’s another way to look at […]
Canada’s new vision of citizenship: a privilege in two classes
Every year, several hundred people from across Ottawa gather in a city park in late June for a day-long festival of soccer (football), sweat, and citizenship. Yes, citizenship. Community Cup – celebrating its 10th anniversary this year – is a hugely successful multicultural event that does more than feature teams from ethnic communities, the police […]
International Students in Canada: the invisible temporary migrants
by Gunjan Sondhi Reliance on ‘temporary migrants’ to fill labour market shortages is not a new strategy for Canada. The Temporary Foreigner Workers (TFW) Program has long been criticised and scrutinised by scholars and migrant community supporters. Such programs locate temporary migrants within a precarious legal status and have been seen as creating a racialized underclass. […]
Canada’s guest worker problem: Just not going away
When pundits sit down to write the story of the fall of Stephen Harper’s government, will it include the image of a middle-aged waitress from small-town Canada, fighting back tears after losing her job to foreign workers? At the very least, it will register as a turning point, the moment when a long-simmering immigration policy […]
Hacking migration: Bringing Silicon Valley’s hackathon vibe to the study of migration
I’m the least tech-savvy person I know, next to my mother. I rely on my laptop and Blackberry to get me through the day but the thought of programming code gives me the shakes. I am in awe that there are people in this world who don’t just like to code, they often do it […]
Lollipops, lottery tickets and life lessons: Kim’s convenience and the immigrant shopkeeper experience
Growing up amid the brick bungalows and post-war split-levels of suburban Ottawa, Hillsview Confectionery was where we brought our precious coins to buy all things sugary and tantalizing, from Jawbreakers to Mars bars to Frito Lay salt and vinegar chips. It’s where our parents nipped in for a litre of milk or sent us to […]
The Migrationist 