Contemporary Paradoxes and Struggles of Migration and Belonging in Canada

The politics of migration in Canada are in significant flux and must be seen in their global context. Emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic amidst global and domestic turmoil, change, and increased right-wing polarization, Canada is experiencing several related paradoxes and struggles to define its immigration future and terms of societal belonging.

Overall, while public opinion has looked upon immigration favourably in recent decades and Canadians perceive themselves to be generous towards refugees, shifts in Canada’s immigration model have meant that growing numbers of non-­citizens face insecure futures while externalization policies towards displaced persons continue to expand in number and scope.

Canada’s economic recovery is occurring amidst increased misinformation and inflation, the latter having raised the cost of living on top of existing insecurities and anxieties faced by ‘old,’ ‘new,’ and prospective Canadians alike. This insecurity comes amidst growing currents of right-populism and extremism both domestically and transnationally, generating concrete realities and risks of increased affective political polarization, with negative impacts on migrants, immigrants, and racialized members of society.

Focused on developments in Canada since 2016 and set within their global context, our research studies and compares existing and emerging migration discourses and policy stances from a wide spectrum of actors, while examining relationships between them through network analysis and qualitative approaches.  Critically examining discourses and networks of the political right and far right, efforts to promote change “from below,” and struggles over the contested centre will shed light on currents of political and affective polarization, social exclusion, and emerging movements of inclusion concerning immigration and refugee policy. 

By assessing and comparing these actors’ stances, we will help uncover ways in which boundaries of societal inclusion might be widened and identify inclusive points of consensus that are perhaps not immediately apparent in less comparative forms of analysis. Our findings aim to inform policy thinking and advocacy responding to circumstances and social and political structures encountered by migrants and immigrants during a period of significant turmoil and change.

The review phase of this study will include the creation of open-access, multidisciplinary bibliographies concerning the politics of migration in Canada as we further examine academic and grey literature from 2016 to 2023.

Using a Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (CPDA) approach, we will examine positions advanced by civil society, government, and political party actors in public statements, reports and websites in a manner attentive to both wider structures of change and individual and collective agency and public policies. Interviews with stakeholders and actors active in policy and political circles will help produce new knowledge as we gauge perceptions about the extent of change, perspectives on policies, and identify new and emerging opportunities and threats to a meaningful politics of belonging in Canada. Network analysis will help us identify promising and concerning links between organizations, discourses, and prominent individuals across the political spectrum at the Federal level.

Publications

2024 (February 28). “Time running out for more inclusive policies? ‘Pathways’ Debates and Demands for Access to Permanent Immigration Status in Canada (external link) .” Migration Policy Centre Blog, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute.

2024 (May). Carlaw, John and Kushan Azadah. “ (PDF file) Pathways to Permanence and Immigration Levels: A Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (CPDA) of Struggles and Limits to Societal Membership for Migrants Amidst and Emerging from COVID-19 (2020-2022) in Canada.” Toronto Metropolitan Centre for Immigration and Settlement (TMCIS)/Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration (CERC) Working Paper Series.

2025. Elke Winter and John Carlaw. “Mending or Patching Over Inequality? The Substance of Multiculturalism under Canada’s Liberal Government Since 2015 (external link) ,” for Multiculturalism on the Mend? The Return of the Political Left and the Future of the Politics of Diversity, Editors: Arjun Tremblay (University of Regina) and Paul May (UQÀM). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Presentations

2023 (October 4) John Carlaw. Pathways to permanence and immigration levels: limits to societal membership for migrants in Canada (external link)  (Video, Migration Policy Centre, Robert Schuman Centre for Advances Studies, European University Institute).

Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA; June 2024)

International Migration Research Network (IMISCOE; July 2024)

American Political Science Association (APSA; September 2024)

IMISCOE Migration-Citizenship-Political Participation Standing Committee Workshop (external link)  (MIGCITPOL; September 2024)