Shauna Labman - Strangers to Neighbours

STRANGERS TO NEIGHBOURS

M C GILL-QUEENS REFUGEE AND FORCED MIGRATION STUDIES

Series editors: Megan Bradley and James Milner

Forced migration is a local, national, regional, and global challenge with profound political and social implications. Understanding the causes and consequences of, and possible responses to, forced migration requires careful analysis from a range of disciplinary perspectives, as well as interdisciplinary dialogue.

The purpose of the McGill-Queens Refugee and Forced Migration Studies series is to advance in-depth examination of diverse forms, dimensions, and experiences of displacement, including in the context of conflict and violence, repression and persecution, and disasters and environmental change. The series will explore responses to refugees, internal displacement, and other forms of forced migration to illuminate the dynamics surrounding forced migration in global, national, and local contexts, including Canada, the perspectives of displaced individuals and communities, and the connections to broader patterns of human mobility. Featuring research from fields including politics, international relations, law, anthropology, sociology, geography, and history, the series highlights new and critical areas of enquiry within the field, especially conversations across disciplines and from the perspective of researchers in the global South, where the majority of forced migration unfolds. The series benefits from an international advisory board made up of leading scholars in refugee and forced migration studies.

1 The Criminalization of Migration
Context and Consequences
Edited by Idil Atak and James C. Simeon

2 A National Project
Syrian Refugee Resettlement in Canada
Edited by Leah K. Hamilton, Luisa Veronis, and Margaret Walton-Roberts

3 Strangers to Neighbours
Refugee Sponsorship in Context
Edited by Shauna Labman and Geoffrey Cameron

Strangers to Neighbours

Refugee Sponsorship in Context

Edited by

SHAUNA LABMAN AND
GEOFFREY CAMERON

McGill-Queens University Press
Montreal & Kingston London Chicago

Copyright

McGill-Queens University Press 2020

ISBN 978-0-2280-0136-2 (cloth)

ISBN 978-0-2280-0137-9 (paper)

ISBN 978-0-2280-0275-8 (e PDF )

ISBN 978-0-2280-0276-5 (e PUB )

Legal deposit third quarter 2020

Bibliothque nationale du Qubec

Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free (100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free

This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Strangers to neighbours: refugee sponsorship in context / edited by Shauna Labman and Geoffrey Cameron.

Names: Labman, Shauna, 1977 editor. | Cameron, Geoffrey, editor.

Series: McGill-Queens refugee and forced migration studies; 3.

Description: Series statement: McGill-Queens refugee and forced migration studies; 3 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200243209 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200243675 | ISBN 9780228001362 (cloth) | ISBN 9780228001379 (paper) | ISBN 9780228002758 (e PDF ) | ISBN 9780228002765 (e PUB )

Subjects: LCSH : Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (Canada) | LCSH : RefugeesGovernment policyCanada. | LCSH : RefugeesCanada.

Classification: LCC JV 7282 . S 77 2020 | DDC 325/.210971dc23

This book was typeset by Marquis Interscript.

Contents

Figure and Tables

FIGURE

8.1 Reddit screenshot 164

TABLES

1.1 Religious groups in Canada 23

9.1 Comparison of the text of the family class sponsorship and the refugee sponsorship undertaking 189

12.1 Resettlement applications approval rates (20112018) 230

12.2 Overview of judicial review applications (20112015) 233

12.3 Summary of judicial review outcomes (20112015) 234

Acknowledgments

We both began our research on refugee resettlement at a time when political interest in this aspect of refugee policy was relatively minimal. This quickly changed in the wake of the 2015 Canadian election, when the new Liberal government committed to resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees and promoted the use of private refugee sponsorship. Many Canadians knew little about this unique aspect of refugee policy at the time, but just a few years later about one quarter of Canadians know someone who has participated in sponsorship. The world also knows more about the Canadian program, owing to the federal governments efforts to promote it as a model for other countries to adopt.

When we saw each other at a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Summer Institute in May 2017, we began to talk about these changing realities and the need for a volume that would bring together a cross-disciplinary group of scholars who could enhance academic and public understanding of the program. This idea took shape with the support of a grant from the PETF s Public Interaction Program and the partnership of the Global Migration Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Jennifer Petrela at the PETF and Randall Hansen at the Munk School both supported the initiative in its early stages.

A call for papers was distributed, abstracts were selected, and authors were invited to present at a two-day workshop in October 2018, held at the Munk School. That event, Private Refugee Sponsorship: Concepts, Cases, and Consequences, came together with the phenomenal support of Joseph Hawker and Olga Kesarchuk, who managed logistics and the administration of our grant. We also benefited from the assistance of two volunteer rapporteur-participants, Ian Van Haren and Enbal Singer. Through the Legal Research Institute at the University of Manitoba, the final details of the book came together with the support and careful research of Jonathan Andrews.

Jacqueline Mason at McGill-Queens University Press has supported the idea of this book from the outset and worked with us throughout the process to swiftly bring it into print.

Of course, we would not have a complete book without the chapter authors. We put out an open call for papers setting out our ideas and questions on private refugee sponsorship with the hope we could gather some people to work with us. The response was outstanding; there are many great ideas and papers that we could not include in this volume but that we hope to read elsewhere. We selected authors with a range of experiences, expertise, and perspectives. In addition to writing their own papers, these authors committed to reviewing one anothers drafts in advance of our workshop, coming to Toronto to sit with us for two days to discuss themes and connections, and responding to our detailed edits and tight timelines. We feel fortunate and grateful as editors to have worked with such insightful and responsive authors, and we are proud of the community of diverse scholars that has generated this project.

As this book goes to print, we are in a much different reality than where we began. The coronavirus pandemic has grounded most international travel and closed borders. The IOM and UNHCR temporarily suspended resettlement in March 2020, and the Canadian government cancelled all imminent refugee arrivals. Sponsors in Canada are now working to support arrived refugees to navigate the uncertainty, while the future of further resettlement and private sponsorship waits in the distance. As we plan to rebuild and recover, we are confident the insights in this book will be invaluable.