Introduction to Special Section on: Precarity, Illegality and Temporariness: Implications and Consequences of Canadian Migration Management

Abstract

Canada's current immigration, refugee, citizenship and temporary migration polices facilitate the production and maintenance of multitude forms of temporariness. The designation of temporary and precarious status means limited rights, conditionality and increased risk of abuse and exploitation. It also shapes persons’ access to rights and services and their sense of belonging. The special section includes four original articles that employ a range of qualitative methods to delve into the issue of temporariness and its implications for migrants, Canadians, and the future of migration management in Canada. The authors call for repeals, amendments and the creation of innovative programmes that leads to pathways to permanent status. The contributions are intended to provide active, pointed, and practical recommendations that would eventually lead to an immigration programme that is efficient, secure, and complies with international human rights standards while eliminating instances of abuse and exploitation.

Immigration Status as the Foundational Determinant of Health for People Without Status in Canada: A Scoping Review

“…However, many of the authors of the articles in our review disagree. Hari and Liew [ 30 ] call for the implementation of clear pathways to residency in Canada, and according to Goldring, Berinstein, and Bernhard [ 4 ], the discourse needs to shift from an onus on individual responsibility to a demand for changes in immigration policy that would foster permanence rather than temporariness.…”

“…The literature establishes that people without immigration status in Canada are popularly portrayed as morally inferior [ 14 , 16 , 17 ], as taking advantage of Canada’s generosity [ 24 , 28 , 31 ], or as threats to national security [ 24 , 30 ]. According to the articles we reviewed, the idea that people without status do not deserve access to healthcare and social services because they do not contribute to the system is prevalent in Canada [ 16 , 32 ].…”

“…To analyze how precarious status is produced in Canada. To explore the implications of precarious legal status for differential inclusion in social rights and entitlements Hanley et al [ 15 ] Pistes: Perspectives Interdisciplinaires Sur le Travail Et la Sante Quebec Mixed methods research: survey and follow-up interviews To examine pathways to healthcare for precarious status migrants Hari and Liew [ 30 ] International Migration Canada Discussion paper To introduce a series on precarity, illegality, and temporariness in Canada's immigration system, in order to understand the current state and future of migration management in Canada Hynie et al [ 38 ] Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health Ontario Quantitative research: analysis of National Ambulatory Care Reporting System data To examine health outcomes among the uninsured Jarvis et al [ 40 ] Journal of Obstetrics And Gynaecology Canada Montreal, Quebec Quantitative research: retrospective chart review To look at prenatal care and perinatal outcomes for uninsured pregnant women Marks [ 34 ] The Hastings Center Report Ontario, Canada Discussion paper To discuss the case of Nell Toussaint, a migrant without legal status in Canada who was denied healthcare coverage, resulting in serious negative health consequences Mattatall [ 31 ] Journal of Obstetrics And Gynaecology Canada Calgary, Alberta Quantitative research: chart and survey data To look into care for uninsured non-Canadian maternity patients Meloni et al [ 20 ] International Journal of Migration Health and Social Care Canada Qualitative research: action research To examine trajectories and discourses of invisibility in the context of access to ed...…”

Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker and International Mobility Programs: Charting Change and Continuity Among Source Countries

“…Temporary migrant worker programmes have long produced or reinforced divisions among populations but, in Canada, as in other settler colonial states embracing migration management, how distinctions are made has evolved in recent decades. As Hari and Liew (2018, 171) observe in their recent editorial for a special issue on Canadian migration management in this journal, temporariness is “the new norm” (see also Rajkumar et al, 2012; Hennebry 2012; Vosko, Preston and Latham eds., 2014). Whereas in earlier periods state brokerage and bilateral arrangements organized these programmes, host states are increasingly empowering employers (transnational or local), enacting new logics (e.g.…”

“…The distinct trajectories of migrants from different source countries thus continue to reflect legacies of colonialism and racialization, highlighting the need, in the short term, to remove conditions that make exploitative conditions common among participants in subprogrammes of the TFWP and to promote greater opportunities for migrants from sources in Latin America and the Caribbean to participate in the full range of Canada's temporary migrant worker programmes as well as to transform, as quickly as possible, these subprogrammes such that they provide meaningful access to secure employment and residency status. We join the authors of the recent special issue on Canadian migration management in this journal (Hari and Liew, 2018) in calling for ways to reduce the reliance on temporary status for migrant workers and greater focus on involving migrants with such precarious status themselves in the policymaking process.…”