Temporariness, Rights, and Citizenship: The Latest Chapter in Canada’s Exclusionary Migration and Refugee History

Abstract

Changes to Canada’s immigration and refugee determination policies made since 2012 have increased the occurrence and persistence of temporariness in Canada, contributing to the systematic exclusion of a growing number of non-citizens, who live and work on the territory, from a wide range of rights. From the perspective of temporariness, I illustrate the striking similarities in the state’s approach to two seemingly distinct groups of non-citizens (based on their rationale for admission): low-skilled temporary foreign workers and refugee claimants. Both groups occupy a low rung in the hierarchy of rights and entitlements to citizenship in Canada, inevitably affecting their social and economic outcomes in the host society. In conclusion, I argue that there is still much to be gained by viewing these distinct groups of temporary migrants as theoretically and experientially linked, in order to design effective policy and deter Canada from repeating its dark and exclusionary migratory past.