Closing Ranks: Racism and Sexism in Canada’s Immigration Policy

1 While the categories ‘Canadian’ and ‘immigrant’ ostensibly refer to legal status in Canada, these terms have historically been racialised and express everyday forms of racism in ‘common-sense’ terms.

and L. Maracle , I Am Woman: a Native perspective on sociology and feminism (Vancouver, Press Gang Publishers, 1996).

and F. Hawkins , Canada and Immigration: public policy and public concern (Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1972).

4 In addition to these two categories, the Immigration Act also organised the immigration of temporary workers, ‘business class’ immigrants and domestic workers. The refugee programme, of course, was organised under different selection criteria, based on the United Nations Convention.

5 Citizenship and Immigration Canada , Facts and Figures: overview of immigration (Ottawa, Minister of Supply and Services, 1994).

6 Among the objectives of the Immigration Act 1976-77 is the enhancement and preservation of the nation, and the strengthening of its cultural and social fabric. I have argued elsewhere that, along with defining the nation as bilingual (i.e. English and French), this objective maintains the racialisation of the nation and of immigrants-as-outsiders. See S. Thobani, ‘Nationalizing Citizens, Bordering Immigrant Women: globalization and the racialization of women’s citizenship in late twentieth-century Canada’ (PhD thesis, Simon Fraser University, 1998).

and N. Sharma , ‘Cheap myths and bonded lives: freedom and citizenship in Canadian society’, Beyond Law (Vol. 6, no. 17, 1997), pp. 35-62. The subject of my article, restricting the immigration of Third World peoples as permanent residents, is necessary to the expansion of the migrant workers programme as a permanent feature of the Canadian economy. Indeed, expediting the processing of temporary work permits was identified as a priority in the Immigration Policy Review.

8 My analysis of the IPR is based on an examination of the documents prepared for the public consultations, the reports of working committees and study groups, the report of the National Conference, the interim and final reports of the IPR and the reports tabled in Parliament. All documents were published by Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Minister of Supply and Services, Ottawa.

9 Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) , Canada 2005: a strategy for citizenship and immigration: background document (Ottawa, CIC, 1994) p. 1.

10 This meeting was said to have been organised by the Public Policy Forum, drawing participants from the three levels of government, from ‘international and social organizations, business, labour, academic institutions, and media representatives’, as well as ‘public safety and service agencies’. No organisations representing immigrants, refugees or women are identified as having been present. (Ibid., p. 2).

11 CIC , Immigration Consultations Report (Ottawa, Minister of Supply and Services, 1994) p. 2.

12 This paper does not address the refugee programme, although it, too, was included in the IPR. The principles and criteria underlying it are different from those applied to immigrants and for this reason among others an analysis of the refugee programme is beyond my scope here.

13 CIC , Canada and Immigration: facts and issues (Ottawa, CIC, 1994), p. 3.

14 Ibid.

and E. Balibar and E. Wallerstein , Race, Nation, Class: ambiguous identities (London, Verso, 1991).

16 Thobani, op. cit.

17 Canada and Immigration, op. cit., p.3.

18 So, for example, in June 1989, immigration policy allowed the sponsorship of single adult children of sponsors. Adult offspring had not been previously eligible for sponsorship. This change in policy attracted more applicants than the department had anticipated, and changes were introduced in April 1992 to end the eligibility of this group.

19 Canada and Immigration, op. cit., p.3.

20 Ibid., pp. 3-6.

21 Employment and Immigration Canada (EIC) , Canada’s Immigration Law: an overview (Ottawa, Minister of Supply and Services, 1983).

22 Ibid., p.5.

23 For a fuller discussion of the domestic workers programme, see S. Arat-Koc , ‘Immigration policies, migrant domestic workers and the definition of citizenship in Canada’, in Satzewich, op. cit., pp. 229-242.

24 See Sharma, op. cit. and Bolaria, op. cit.

25 See the work of D. Smith , The Conceptual Practices of Power (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1990), for a discussion of how the social construction of knowledge and the framing of ‘reality’ through textual practices are central to the reproduction of the relations of ruling in advanced capitalism.

and CIC , Public Meetings: summaries of discussion (Ottawa, CIC, 1994).

27 Immigration Consultations Report, op. cit., p. 19.

28 Ibid., p. 21.

29 Ibid., p. 20.

30 Ibid., p. 22.

31 Ibid., p. 17.

32 Ibid., p. 18.

33 See Hawkins, op. cit. and Bolaria and Li, op. cit.

34 Immigration Consultations Report, op. cit., p. 18.

35 See Hawkins, op. cit.

36 Immigration Consultations Report, op. cit., p. 18.

37 Ibid., p.21.

and C. Barroso and C. Bruschini , ‘Building politics from personal lives: discussions on sexuality among poor women in Brazil’, in C. T. Mohanty et al. (eds), Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Indiana, Indiana University Press, 1991), pp. 153-172.

and T. Adilman , ‘A preliminary sketch of Chinese women and work in British Columbia 1858-1950’, in B. Latham and R. Pazdro (eds), Not Just Pin Money: selected essays on the history of women’s work in British Columbia (Camosun College, 1984), pp. 53-78.

40 Immigration Consultations Report, op. cit., pp. 26, 65.

41 Ibid., pp. 26, 61.

42 Ibid., p. 26.

43 CIC , Employee Consultation Report (Ottawa, CIC, 1994) p. 7.

44 The Report of Working Group No. 8 (Ottawa, CIC, 1994), p. 11.

45 D. J. DeVoretz (ed.), Diminishing Returns: the economics of Canada’s recent immigration policy (C. D. Howe Institute, 1995).

46 Report of Working Group No. 8, op. cit., p. 11.

47 Immigration Consultations Report, op. cit., p. 28.

48 Report of Working Group No. 8, op. cit., pp. 10-11.

49 Canada 2005, op. cit., p. 42.

50 Employee Consultation Report, op. cit., p. 6.

and Report of Working Group No. 8, op.cit.

52 Immigration Consultations Report, op. cit., p. 1.

53 In the federal budget of February, 2000, the head tax on refugees was rescinded. However, it will continue to be implemented on all immigrants.

54 See R. Trempe , R. Kunin and S. Davis , Not Just Numbers: a Canadian framework for future immigration (Ottawa, Minister of Public Works and Government Services, 1998).