Social policy frameworks of exclusion: the challenge of protecting the social rights of ‘undocumented migrants’ in Quebec and Shanghai

Abstract

This article focuses on the implications of administrative "undocumentedness", arguing that a lack of legal recognition across jurisdictional boundaries has parallels whether international or inter-municipal. In Canada and China, migrant workers only began receiving significant public attention in the past 20 years. Canada has had a boom in the use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program yet tightening immigration procedures overall have led to a rise in the number of undocumented workers. While in China, most rural-to-urban migrants move without transferring their hukou residency registration. The authors argue that there are surprising parallels in the policy frameworks governing access to social rights for undocumented migrants in Quebec and in Shanghai, parallels that create social exclusion. Mutual lessons for addressing the social rights of irregular migrants are discussed.

Access to Social Protection by Immigrants, Emigrants and Resident Nationals in China

“…However, a much larger population of selfemployed and undocumented foreigners reside in China. Getting this group of people included into the social security system is a much thornier task (Hanley and Wen 2017). Compared to their fellow citizens at home, Chinese nationals residing abroad are excluded from most social security benefits in China, except old-age pension, provide that qualifying period of contribution is met.…”

Tracking Precarity: Employment Pathways of Precarious Status Migrant Workers in Canada

“…The bulk of Canadian-based literature focuses on migrant workers who continue to have legal status, in particular agricultural workers (Hennebry and Preibisch 2012;Preibisch 2010;Otero and Preibisch 2015) often with an emphasis on the macro-economic impact of increased TFWs (Foster 2012) and TFW's working conditions (Nakache and Kinoshita 2012). Research examining those migrant workers whose permits have expired has tended to focus on access to education, health and social services (Campbell et al 2014;Magalhaes, Carrasco and Gastaldo 2009;Miklavcic 2011), working conditions (Marsden 2014;Vosko 2019) and living conditions (Hanley and Wen 2017).…”

Montreal’s Sanctuary Policy for Non-Status Migrants: Opportunity and Obstacles

“…Non-status migrants suffer from poorquality living and exploitative work conditions (Berinstein et al, 2006;Hanley & Wen, 2017). Montreal City Mission (Mission Communautaire de Montréal, MCM) Solutions Justes, a legal clinic observed that non-status migrants it served lived in financial precarity and suffered from health issues, and in some cases, domestic violence (MCM Solutions Justes, 2018).…”