Precarious noncitizenship through the life course

Canadian immigration policy has shifted dramatically, reducing the share of permanent resident entrants, increasing the share of people arriving as temporary residents, as well as increasing the proportion of permanent residents with prior experience as temporary residents. Many migrants in Canada – whether they enter on temporary work visas, student visas, tourist visas, as family dependents or as refugee claimants – now spend an indeterminate amount of time in a state of immigration status precarity. Precarious immigration status has negative impacts on health and wellbeing. It limits individuals’ right to be present in the country, erodes workplace rights, and limits access state entitlements.

 

This three-year Partnership Development Grant will use a community-engaged action research framework to examine how immigration status precarity is transforming experiences of work, social citizenship and belonging in ways that impact society as a whole. Focused on the Greater Toronto Area, we will bring together peer researchers with lived experience of immigration status precarity, community agency partners, and academic researchers to conduct three qualitative case studies of youth, seniors and working women navigating the challenges of immigration status precarity. We will create a knowledge exchange partnership with peer-researchers and community advocates. We will also extend public knowledge of immigration precarity by hosting a town hall and producing a film on experiences of immigration status precarity. This work will build on a survey project that is already underway and funded separately through a SSHRC Insight Grant (http://cep.info.yorku.ca/).