Designing a “Good” Immigration Policy for Canada, Part I

15% – Short Essay #2 (Due in Class: March 5)

 – Applying the Conceptions of “Precarious Legal Status” to EITHER the Live-in Caregiver  (SAWP Program (LCP) OR the Seasonal Agricultural Worker’s Program.

 

            This essay (5-7 double-spaced, 12 font pages with 1 in. margins, max: 1750 words, plus bibliography) requires you to immerse yourself in the analysis about ‘precarious’ migratory, legal or citizenship status, as elaborated upon in the following two articles:

 

Then, choose to focus on EITHER the LCP or the SAWP as instances of temporary labour migration schemes in order to show how that program institutionalizes precarious migratory status.

 

Which features of the program institutionalize precarious status and vulnerability for the labour migrants?  How do these features affect their security, rights and freedoms in Canada?  How does it affect their access to social benefits and other citizenship rights (e.g. political freedoms, civil liberties) or their integration into Canadian society?

Be specific in your analysis, and also historical in the claims you make about the policy as some aspects of the policy have changed over time.  Some literature that might be of assistance in your analysis includes:

 

Patti Tamara Lenard and Christine Straehle (2012) Legislated Inequality: Temporary Labour Migration in Canada, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Press)

(contains articles on both live-in caregivers and seasonal agricultural workers).

 

Daiva Stasiulis and Abigail Bakan, (2005) Negotiating Citizenship: Migrant Women in Canada and the Global System, Toronto: University of Toronto Press.  (on the LCP)

 

Tanya Basok (2004) “Post-national Citizenship, Social Exclusion and Migrant Rights: Mexican Seasonal Workers in Canada,” Citizenship Studies, 8(1): 47-64.

 

Kerry Prebisch, “Pick-Your-Own Labor: Migrant Workers and Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture,” International Migration Review 44(2), 2010, pp. 404-441.

 

David Fairey et al. “Cultivating Farmworker Rights: Ending the Exploitation of Immigrant and Migrant Farm Workers in BC, “ Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Office, 2008.

Available at: http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/BC_Office_Pubs/bc_2008/bc_farmworkers_full.pdf

 

Please note there is a rich literature on both the LCP and the SAWP – please make use of it in your paper and please be sure to reference properly.

Proper references and bibliography are required for this paper.  I also recommend that you consult the information and analysis of associations representing farmworkers and live-in caregivers – e.g.:

www.vcn.bc.ca/cfu/  (Canadian Farmworkers Union)

http://www.justicia4migrantworkers.org/  (Justicia)

 

Organizations that have represented the interests of live-in caregivers and other migrant workers in the Philippine community include:  Pinay (in Montreal); and the Philippine Women’s Centre (BC).

 

 

15% – Short Essay #3 – Designing a “Good” Immigration Policy for Canada, Part I (Due in class: March 26):

 

In a (5-7 page(double-spaced, 12 font pages with 1.25 in. margins, max: 1750 words, plus bibliography) essay, discuss your vision of a “good” or desirable immigration policy that you feel Canada should adopt.  Please note that your vision of a “good” immigration policy must be noticeably different than the current Canadian immigration (and refugee) policies. Some of the questions you might engage with in this essay are the following:

 

 

v What are the objectives, underlying principles and ethics of such a policy?  How does the policy advance these objectives?  How does it try to ‘balance’ several objectives?

v Which (national, economic, security, etc.) interests are served by this policy?

v What are the key components/streams of such a policy?

v How do we go about designing such policies? (e.g. who should be consulted?)

v Is this policy intended to ‘serve the nation’ or is it serving other interests?  Which interests?

 

I suggest that you search some of the websites of social justice organizations that are advocating for fair immigration and refugee policies, including: Migrant Worker Rights Canada, Justicia, No One is Illegal, No Border network (this is European, but good for ideas).

Canadian Council for Refugees (primarily on refugee policy, including critiques of Bill C-31).

 

This paper should include proper footnotes, references and bibliography (the style is less important – just aim for consistency and complete publishing details).

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