Georgiana Mathurin

Project:

Centring the Voices of Black Women With Precarious Immigration Status 

Description:

Immigrants with precarious immigration status want to feel safe and need transparency in knowing that they have guaranteed rights to permanent residency and comprehensive regularization programs without strict eligibility criteria. However, Canada’s regularization public policies continuously perpetuate exclusionary restrictions for certain immigrants, reflecting a legacy of white immigration policies and discriminatory racist ideologies (Amnesty International, 2025). Although some Black women have successfully regularized their immigration status over time, many continue to encounter significant barriers resulting from restrictive regularization policies, denied permanent residency applications, and the fear of applying and being refused. To further understand the experiences of Black women with precarious immigration status, this qualitative study aims to: 

1. Understand and document the varied experiences of Black women with precarious immigration status; 
2. Understand and document how Black women’s intersecting identities shape their experiences of precarious immigration status; and 
3. Explore how the Canadian Federal government policies have addressed precarious immigration status over time, and the impacts of these policies and their changes on Black women living in Canada with precarious immigration status 

The study involves two phases. In the first phase, I conduct narrative interviews with ten Black women living in Toronto with precarious immigration status, examining how they navigate both their status and the broader immigration system. In phase 2(a), I conduct a detailed genealogical review of selected immigration policies from the 1960s to 2025. The genealogical approach examines the historical development, trends, and broader historical, political, and economic contexts of these policies, as well as the social factors that shape them. Thus, it explores the impact of these immigration policies on Black women with precarious immigration status in the past and present. In phase 2(b), I draw on critical discourse analysis to conduct a textual analysis of the selected immigration policies in 2(a) to examine how policy language (re-)constructs power relations and juxtapose them with the experiences of Black women with precarious migration status. The study is grounded in Black feminist thought, critical race theory, and the concepts of intersectionality and misogynoir. Three research questions guide this study: 

1. How do Black women describe their experiences navigating precarious migration status in Canada? 
2. In what ways do colonial and racial thinking inform and shape immigration policies addressing precarious migration status and, by extension, the experiences of Black women living with precarious migration status in Canada? 
3. How have the policies of the Canadian State, beginning with the era of Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s multiculturalism (1970s), that purport to “promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society and assist them in the elimination of any barrier to that participation,” (Canadian Multiculturalism Policy, 1971) addressed precarious immigration status?

This study has the potential to generate meaningful benefits at the individual, community, and societal levels. At the individual level, it centres and honours the voices and lived experiences of Black women with precarious immigration status. At the community level, the research may increase awareness and understanding within migrant-serving community organizations, policymakers, and advocacy groups. These groups will better understand the experiences of Black women with precarious immigration status, considering their race, gender, and status. At the societal level, the study may contribute to a comprehensive regularization public policy initiative that is inclusive and equitable for all migrants regardless of immigration status. Additionally, the study aims to contribute to academic and policy discussions on migration and generate new knowledge in Black studies and migration scholarship while building on existing literature.

About Georgiana:

Georgiana Mathurin is a third-year PhD candidate in the Policy Studies program at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). She holds a Master of Arts in Immigration and Settlement Studies (2023) and a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Studies (2022) from TMU. In 2023, she received the Best Major Research Paper Award in the Immigration and Settlement Studies program for her study titled Black Feminist Autoethnography: Africa/Black Women With Precarious Migration Status. Her doctoral research explores the experiences of Black women with precarious immigration status and how they navigate this precarity. Georgiana is also interested in informing Canadian public policy on comprehensive regularization programs that are equitable, non-restrictive, and non-exclusionary for migrants without immigration status.