John Carlaw
Spotlight
Dr. John Carlaw is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), which he joined in July, 2024. His research examines the criminalization of migration and resistance, and the politics of citizenship, migration and multiculturalism in the context of settler colonialism and global inequalities. He holds a PhD from York University's Department of Political Science, supported by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, and a Diploma in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from its Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC).
He is currently the lead investigator on a SSHRC Insight Development Grant-funded project entitled Contemporary Paradoxes and Struggles of Migration and Belonging in Canada and a Member of the Citizenship and Participation Research Theme of the Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program. He is an affiliated researcher with TMU’s Global Migration Institute.
Dr. Carlaw is a member of the Yeates School of Graduate Studies as a member of the MA programs in Criminology & Social Justice and Immigration and Settlement Studies. Emerging from his teaching on migration and civil society engagements, he is the faculty lead of a campus-based “We’re Better Together: Our Canada includes Immigrants and Refugees!” campaign connected to a national Canadian Council for Refugees-led effort (external link) .
Dr. Carlaw joined the Criminology Department after holding roles as Senior Research Associate (2023-2024) and Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2020-2023) at CERC Migration (now the Global Migration Institute). He has previously taught at York and Trent Universities and served as Project Lead of York University's Syria Response and Refugee Initiative, (external link) a refugee sponsorship and education initiative at York’s Centre for Refugee Studies. There he worked in close collaboration with TMU’s Lifeline Syria Challenge and civil society actors to organize events, solidarity initiatives, workshops and conferences with youth and NGO collaborators, including Amnesty International Canada, the FCJ Refugee Centre, the Canadian Council for Refugees, and Toronto Refugee Rights Month Planning Committee. He remains an affiliate of York’s Centre for Refugee Studies and Global Labour Research Centre. John has been interviewed concerning his work and provided commentary to outlets including Al Jazeera, CBC and Global News Radio, The Globe and Mail, The Hill Times, New Canadian Media, and The Tyee.
Education
| University | Degree |
|---|---|
| York University |
Ph.D., Political Science |
| York University | M.A., Political Science |
| Wilfrid Laurier University | H.B.A., History and Political Science |
Selected Publications
Journal Articles and Working Papers
- 2026. With Azadah, K. & Tungohan, E. (2026). “(Re)Imagining Community in a Digital Age: Far-Right and Pro-Migrant Contestations of Canadian Citizenship.” Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies.
- 2026. With Kushan Azadah. Discursive and policy opportunities opened and shut? Battles for the regularisation of undocumented residents’ immigration status in Canada (2020–2024). (external link) Third World Quarterly, 1–22.
- 2024, With 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) and the CERC in Migration and Integration Working Paper Series no. 2024/07.
- 2023. With Elke Winter “Conservatism and the Re-Communitarianization of Citizenship in Canada (external link) ,” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. Vol 9.4 (Fall 2023). pp. 391-411.
- 2022 (January). “Blunt talk or faux outrage? The Politics of Expanding Migrant Worker Programs under Canada’s former Conservative Government (2006-2015) (external link) ,” Studies in Political Economy ,Vol 102.3 (2021). pp. 331-353.
- 2021. “ (PDF file) Unity in Diversity? Neoconservative Multiculturalism and the Conservative Party of Canada,” Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement (RCIS)/Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration (CERC) Working Paper Series 2021/1.
- 2018 (May). “Authoritarian Populism and Canada’s Conservative Decade (2006-2015) in Citizenship and Immigration: The Politics and Practices of Kenneyism and Neoconservative Multiculturalism. (external link) ” Journal of Canadian Studies. Vol 51.3 (Fall 2017). 782-816. May 14.
Book Chapters
- 2025. With Elke Winter. “Chapter 1: Conservatism and the Re-Communitarianization of Citizenship in Canada, (external link) ” in Beyond Binaries and Polarization? Rethinking Pluralist Inclusion in Immigrant Nations. Edited by Elke Winter, pp. 15-34.
- 2024. With Elke Winter, “Mending or Patching Over Inequality? The Substance of Multiculturalism under Canada’s Liberal Government Since 2015, (external link) ” for Multiculturalism on the Mend? The Political Left and Ethnic Minorities in Liberal Democracies, Editors: Arjun Tremblay and Paul May. Palgrave Macmillan, London. p.55-88.
- 2015. “ (PDF file) A Party for New Canadians? The Rhetoric and Reality of (Neo)Conservative Citizenship and Immigration Policy. (external link) ” Chapter 6 of The Harper Record 2008-2015, edited by Teresa Healy and Stuart Trew, 105-125. Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy for Policy Alternatives.
Other Publications and Commentary
- 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 Advances Studies, European University Institute.
- 2023. Reflective book review (external link) of Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Ethel Tungohan and Christina Gabriel, Containing Diversity: Canada and the Politics of Immigration in the 21st Century (University of Toronto Press, 2023). Journal of Australian, Canadian and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies. Volume 3 (September), pp. 161-163.
- 2023. March 21. Declining naturalizations signal larger problems in Canada’s citizenship and immigration system (external link) , The Conversation.
- 2021. “ (PDF file) Multiculturalism and its Adjectives: Situating Neoconservative Multiculturalism”/«Le multiculturalisme et ses adjectifs: Situer le multiculturalisme néoconservateur» (external link) , contribution to special issue of Canadian Diversity/Diversité Canadienne on the theme of Multiculturalism @50: Promoting Inclusion and Eliminating Racism, Vol 18, No. 1.
- 2021, “ (PDF file) York University Syria Response and Refugee Initiative (SRRI) Final Report, (external link) ” Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. 44 pages.
- 2020. September 24. “Throne speech offers little systemic change for migrant workers, refugees, (external link) ” The Conversation.
- 2019, “CERLAC 40th Anniversary Reflection Series: John Carlaw, (external link) ” Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University