Immigration – To Know is Not Enough

Connecting migrants at the table (part 1)

A small neighbourhood house in East Vancouver, full to capacity with people from various migration statuses, sharing a meal, talking, drawing, gesturing, and introducing themselves. Adults and children switching between languages. Frontline service workers, migrant workers, refugees, youth and seniors making art together. Syrian dishes made by refugee women piled high on a table for an evening meal. Thinking about what it means to feel at home. Connecting threads over a map to see where we come from and trace lines of connection.

Read the full post, collaboratively written by Angela Contreras, Saguna Shankar, and Nasim Peikazadi at https://blogs.ubc.ca/liumigrationetwork/

(Legal) Canadian Citizenship

My research closely follows the impact of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) on the immigrant settlement services and public legal education sectors. Currently I am focusing on the experiences of PLE programs for migrant workers in British Columbia, where I live and work.

As a PLE practitioner and analyst, I have been witness to the challenges that the omnipresence of TFWs represent for ISS providers all over BC, but more dramatically in rural and remote areas. As (temporary) migrants, TFWs are quite often driven to seek the culture and language-appropriate, free and professional, help and information from ISS organizations. Information about their legal rights is at the top in the list of services frequently sought by TFWs. A major obstacle arises, nonetheless, when ISS organizations are forced, by conditions set by their funders, to deny services to TFWs. Somewhere else (Contreras-Chavez, 2010) I have discussed the impact of Canada’s acts and regulations concerning citizenship and immigration, which makes most TFWs ineligible for Canadian permanent resident visa and the prospect of applying for Canadian citizenship. Further, because Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is the principal funder of ISS services, and because TFWs are not considered by CIC as “citizen material”, ISS are not authorized to serve TFWs. In my research, I argue that Canada’s citizenship and immigration law are very much out of synch with the current realities of global or transnational migration and citizenship. That asynchrony, I believe, is a major contributor or catalyst to the rising need for PLE services for migrant workers, many of whom may indeed, not think of themselves as temporary but as permanent residents and de-facto Canadian citizens.

Understanding the concept of legal immigration status applicable to TFWs, and the kind of legal rights and responsibilities TFWs are entitled to in Canada, is of extreme importance in my research. Academics, policy analysts, legal professionals, PLE and ISS workers, and TFWs themselves, each has their own perspective of that understanding and the logic residing therein. The following is an excerpt from my earlier literature review regarding the concept of citizen(ship):

UBC Law professor Catherine Dauvergne (2008) argues that by creating the TFWP and other temporary immigration programs to fill a permanent labour need with temporary migrant workers is responsible for generating an increasing population of illegal or undocumented immigrants. Canada’s current immigration system won’t allow these undocumented migrants to become eligible to apply for or to regain legal immigration status. Dauvergne is not advocating for the deportation of illegal migrants, she rather argues but for legal reforms that will facilitate permanent resident status, and a pathway to Canadian citizenship. Her position echoes that of many other critiques of the TFWP and its seemingly illogic way to meet permanent labour markets needs. As Aiwa Ong et al. (1996) would have it, undocumented migrants often contribute more to the social and economic development of their host country than many of that country’s formal citizens. I also want to draw from Audrey Macklin’s approach to contemporary citizenship debates when she suggests that theorizing about “Who is the citizen?” has neglected certain social and legal realities. Theoretical work, she posits, needs to be done to understand “Who is the citizen’s Other?” (Macklin 2007, p. 335). The legal exclusion of low-skilled TFWs from citizenship status and from better employment opportunities inspired Audrey Goldring et al., (2009) to coin the term “precarious migration status” which I favour over that of “illegal immigrant”. People with precarious migration status are marked by “the absence of any elements normally associated with permanent residence (and citizenship) in Canada” (pp. 240-241), yet these are people who proactively contribute their skills and build new ones with which they participate in the social and cultural lives of their host communities. And as legal advocates in BC will attest (AWA 2012), the level of interest and need to learn about the legal and judicial systems of Canada is very high among people with precarious migration status that dominant assumptions about migrants as unlawful need to be questioned.

2013 CSSE-CASAE Conference

The governmentality of settlement has in itself contradictory claims and characters of social justice – contradictions that this panel sought to highlight and contextualize.

The CSSE-CASAE Annual Conference was held in conjunction with the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. This bilingual conference provided an opportunity for discussion of educational issues among practitioners and educational scholars from across the nation. It all took place at the University of Victoria, BC, 1-5 June 2013.

I participated at the conference with my paper Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) in the Formation of New Citizens in British Columbia, which was part of a panel titled “Migrant subject, local knowledge and the dilemma of social justice”.

Thanks to Allyson Larkin (Western), Chair, and to Handel Wright (UBC) and Michael O’Sullivan (Brock), discussants.

Paper and presenters:

Governmentality of ‘Settlement’ and the Educational Space for Migrant Children: Marginal Schooling in China’s Megacities – Yao Xiao (University of British Columbia)
Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) in the Formation of New Citizens in British Columbia – Angela Contreras-Chavez (University of British Columbia)
Immigrant teachers, Canadian multiculturalism and conceptions of the “good teacher” – Lilach Marom (University of British Columbia)
ESL Education as Social In-Justice: Policy Ineffectiveness and its Consequences for Immigrant Children and Youth as Learners in Society – Yvonne Hébert (University of Calgary) and Yan Guo (University of Calgary).

The following is a summary of the panel: focus, concepts and connections — Thanks to Yao for putting it together.

Comparing the Canadian and Chinese contexts, this panel aims to unpack the local knowledge that rationalizes what is ‘right’ and ‘just’ for migrant subjects, and to understand in what ways educational programs and mechanisms have been conducted in responding to such rationalities. With different research methods including policy analysis, ethnographic approach, and critical discourse analysis, the four papers in this panel help spotlight educational spaces where social justice issues are contentious, particularly compounded by the tensions between ‘local knowledge’ – understood as the dominant conceptions of proper settlement in host society, and ‘migrant subjects’ – understood as the prescribed groups of individuals to be governed towards the ends of settlement or only sojourning.

Asking what is ‘right’ and ‘just’ is asking what social justice means. Social justice is the will to render to everyone their due, and Nancy Fraser (2009) argues that “what turns a collection of people into fellow subjects of justice is … their subjection to a structure of governance that sets the ground rules that govern their interaction (p.65)”. However, the structure of governance is not always in consistency, and the ground rules are not always in congruence. This is especially true in migration contexts where the ‘local’ meets the ‘migrants’ in forms of physical and discursive spaces, where a set of prescriptions surfaces on what and how the ‘migrants’ should learn. Local knowledge thus emerge, as the four papers will discuss, in educational forms such as the mechanism of ‘settlement’, the provision of public legal education, the notion of ‘good teacher’, and the English as Second Language (ESL) program. With ‘governmentality’ understood as the will to govern a population based on certain knowledge matrix (Rose, O’Malley, & Valverde, 2006), migrants in this case become subjects of a governmentality based on local knowledge. However, such knowledge involves heterogeneous and often conflictual economic, cultural and political interests, which in turn give rises to the un(desirability) of ‘settlement’ from institutional perspective and the (im)possibility of ‘settlement’ from migrants’ perspective.

This governmentality of settlement has in itself contradictory claims and characters of social justice – contradictions that this panel hopes to highlights and contextualizes. On the one hand, issues of educational resource distribution are compounded by legality concerns. In both urban China and urban Canada, there are cases where permanent labors are economically needed, yet only temporary residents statuses are legally permitted. Such contradictory power politics between economy and legality creates, in the Chinese case presented by Yao Xiao, a very marginalized educational space for migrant workers’ children in urban China. It also creates, in the Canadian case presented by Angela Contreras-Chavez, an ambiguous provision of public legal education and information for workers with precarious migration status. On the other hand, Canada’s educational programs that aim to serve immigrant students better become increasingly entrenched in a set of apparently dominant and assumedly ‘good’ discourses, or what this panel refers to as “local knowledge”. In the case of immigrant teacher recertification programs discussed by Lilach Marom, the notion of ‘good teacher’ – itself remains prototypical ‘west’ and ‘white’ – is embedded in the curriculum as well as the hidden curriculum of recertification programs. Such embeddedness has in turn make difficult the inclusion of immigrant teachers’ ‘indigenous’ knowledge into Canadian classrooms where students’ ethno-cultural backgrounds become increasingly diverse. In the case of English as Second Language (ESL) programs examined by Dr. Yvonne Hébert and Dr. Yan Guo, the typical enrolment of immigrant children in such programs bears much controversy on the students’ emotional wellbeing, learning opportunities and academic attainment – controversy renders ESL questionable as an integrative approach that is socially just for all.

Yao Xiao will be first presenting on migrant children’s marginalized access to and process of urban schooling in two Chinese megacities. The presentation systematically unpacks and problematizes the local mechanisms and knowledge that make educational exclusion possible, based on a critical analysis of government documents and an ethnographic study in migrant communities. The Foucauldian notion of ‘governmentality’, with the notion of ‘settlement’, consist the theoretical lens through which the issues are analyzed and presented. Also contesting the notion of ‘settlement’ but in a Canadian context, Angela Contreras-Chavez will be the second presenter examining how Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) is linked to the formation of new Canadian citizens. Based on a critical discourse analysis of relevant regulatory and public policy documents, this presentation contributes to Foucauldian oriented debates about legal system, access to public services, and the subjectification of racialized immigrants to dominant ideologies of what constitutes Canadian citizenship. With the questions raised about new citizens, Lilach Marom will be the third presenter examining immigrant teacher recertification programs to unpack the problematic conception of ‘good teacher’, viewed through the theoretical lens of critical multiculturalism. Issues of multiculturalism as related to social justice will then be discussed by Dr. Yvonne Hébert and Dr. Yan Guo, whose presentation critically examines English language policies and in particular ESL programs, involving students, teachers, parents as the ‘who’ of social justice, then goods and services (such as curriculum) as the ‘what’ of social (in)justice and finally pedagogy as the ‘how’ of social justice.

Bibliography

Beynon, J., Ilieva, R., & Dichupa, M. (2004). Re-credentialling experiences of immigrant teachers: Negotiating institutional structures, professional identities and pedagogy. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 10(4), 429-444. doi:10.1080/1354060042000224160

Bourdieu, P. (1998). Acts of Resistance. Against the New Myths of Our Time. R. Nice (trans.). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Chassels, C. (2010). Participation of internationally-educated professionals in an initial teacher education bachelor of education degree program: Challenges and supports. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 100; http://umanitoba.ca/publications/cjeap/pdf_files/chassels-iet.pdf

Cho, C. L. (2011). Qualifying as a teacher: Investigating immigrant teacher candidates counter stories of replication and resistance. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (UMI No. NR80550)

Foucault, M. (2007). Security, territory and population. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Fraser, N. (2009). Scales of justice: Reimagining political space in a globalizing world. New York: Columbia University Press (hardback).

Joppke, C. (2005). Exclusion in the Liberal state: The case of immigration and citizenship policy. European Journal of Social Theory, 8(1), 43-61.

Macklin, A. (2007). Who is the citizen’s other? Consider the heft of citizenship. Theoretical Inquiries in Law. 8(2), 333-366.

May, S. (1999). Critical multiculturalism and cultural difference: Avoiding essentialism. In S. May (Ed.), Critical multiculturalism: Rethinking multicultural and antiracist education (pp. 11-42). London, UK: Falmer Press. Ryan, J., Pollock, K., & Antonelli, F. (2009). Teacher diversity in Canada: Leaky pipelines, bottlenecks, and glass ceilings. Canadian Journal of Education, 32(3), 591-617.

Rose, Nikolas, O’Malley, Pat, & Valverde, Mariana. (2006). Governmentality. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2(1), 83-104. doi: 10.1146/annurev.lawsocsci.2.081805.105900

Rose, N. (2003). The powers of freedom. Cambridge: Polity
Thobani, S. (2007). Exalted subjects: Studies in the making of race and nation in Canada. Toronto, ON: Toronto University Press.

The conference program is available in PDF format from the CSSE website.

PLE or PLEI?

In my experience, program managers and funders are the only two stakeholders who are not only familiar with the term public legal education and information (PLEI), and who also have integrated the term to their discourse. PLE or PLEI are acronyms used in regulatory documents, public policy and funding agreements between service provider (non-profit organizations) and their public and/or private funders. At the frontline, or among people who provide direct services to the public or program beneficiaries, however, the initial concept of PLE or PLEI is somehow reinterpreted; the concept and the theories that informed it becomes praxis.

In my research, I analyze the praxis of, and philosophies (i.e., ideologies) behind, concepts such as the following one derived from the Federal Department of Justice when it states the purposes of PLE:

“People who come in contact with the system for whatever reason – as an offender, as a victim, as a witness – may not be aware of their obligations or where to get information about their situation. In our justice system, the public is expected to know the law. Knowledge about the law can help people better identify the kind of legal advice or assistance they may require. Public legal information is not intended to replace the services of a lawyer where it is required, but often it is helpful to have information about the law in question, in addition to seeking advice. [And] having access to information about the law and how to access legal and social resources in the community can be especially important to people who are vulnerable because of language barriers, economic reasons, reasons of discrimination, etc.” (Ibid, para 6-10).

Defining PLE is neutral or universal terms is not easy task. Behind a concept there is a philosophical and ontological orientation. The following is one of my earlier attempts to define PLE:

PLEI began as a movement within the law schools of Canada during the mid-1970s and spearheaded by a group of lawyers, educators and librarians. A national scope for PLEI in Canada was created in the 1980s with funding from the Department of Justice for province based PLEI organizations. Patti Pearcey1 (1979, p. 131-132) posits that “in an effort to alleviate the sense of helplessness which assails citizens in their attempts to contend with the law”, public legal education and information programs and services were created. PLEI thus, “help[s] to demystify the law” (Ibid). From the point of view of PLEI providers, the central tenet of public legal education, is that “an informed person can better deal with the complexities of modern life and and informed public can better understand and participate in the evaluation and the formation of law” (Ibid; see also Wurman, 2009, p. 61). Funding reductions of the past two decades require that PLEI be understood for its potential rather than what actually is. The potential of PLEI “lays in the public being engaged with the Canadian legal system as a proactive measure against social injustice” (Wurman, 2009, p. 61).

1In 1972 she co-founded and was Executive Director of British Columbia’s The People’s Law School, one of the several non-profit PLEI organizations formed all over Canada and the USA during that period.

Immigration Policies and Practices: Europe & North America (Conference)

Last week I received good news from Dr. Suzanna Crage, Visiting Researcher. She informed me that one of my papers had been accepted by the UBC Institute for European Studies (IES) to be presented at their multidisciplinary graduate conference on immigration in Europe and North America. The event is sponsored by the UBC Institute for European Studies and cosponsored by the SSHRC-funded Transatlantic Dialogue Project. This conference aims to bring together graduate students who are working on immigration in the social sciences and related fields. Further, the conference organizers aim to provide a setting for discussion of work that will allow us to examine and compare immigration issues in Europe and North America.

My paper for the IES conference will address government policies and practices by the governments of Canada and (province of) British Columbia, and the work of non-governmental organizations and community-based groups regarding the provision of free public legal air/advocacy for migrant workers and other people with precarious migration status. My paper falls within three of UBC IES’s conference themes: Limiting Immigration, Wanted Migrants, and Integration & Citizenship. The themes are defined by UBC IES as:

“Limiting Immigration. Many countries seek to limit the number and types of people who cross or stay within their borders. Even as states develop domestic priorities and programs, they are setting international agreements, treaties and regulations designed to enhance border control. People continue to arrive, however, and publics and elites continue to debate whether, and what kinds of, limits should be set, and how they should be enforced.

Wanted Migrants. Not all immigrants are unwante: most countries welcome some immigrants with specific identities or ties, and many have declared a desire for people with certain backgrounds or skills. Decisions about who to allow or encourage reflect domestic principles and priorities. Recruitment and admissions practices vary, however, along with their success.

Integration & Citizenship. What happens once immigrants arrive, from initial integration practices to citizenship policies? Integration and multiculturalism models and goals vary across countries, time, and governmental and societal arenas. The practical implementation of policies and programs also vary, as do integration trends in a variety of arenas (such as education, employment, housing…).” Source: IES website

The conference will be held from Friday Nov. 30th to Saturday Dec. 1, 2012 at the C.K Choi Building, UBC Vancouver.

Click here to link to more information from the UBC IES about their conference.

To view a PDF copy of the conference program, click here.