There was a lot wrong with the recent billboards promoting anti-immigration sentiments and the new ultra-right-wing People's Party of Canada. Countering the claim from the leader of the People's Party of Canada that "the billboard was 'only controversial for the totalitarian leftist mob who want to censor it,'" experts have pointed out that these billboards were dogwhistles, as "mass immigration" is an inaccurate descriptor of the facts about immigration. These billboards try to promote a … [Read more...]
What’s private about the Private Sponsorship of Refugees program?
In the next series of posts, I want think through Canada's Private Sponsorship of Refugees (PSR) program. This series is part of my broader project on Hannah Arendt's conception of the rootlessness of refugees, the condition in which refugees are uprooted from their geographic, cultural, and political homes. In this post, I want to ask a few questions about the conceptual work "the private" is doing in PSR using Arendt's view of the public/private distinction. In later posts, I want to … [Read more...]
Citizenship Week 2018: New Canadians are new workers are new family members
During Citizen Week (October 8-14), I attended a facilitated conversation at CIGI/The Balsillie School with the Honourable Ahmed D. Hussen, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship. Hussen gave a brief talk, answered some questions asked by Prof. Anna Esselment (Political Science, University of Waterloo), then answered general questions from the audience. Refugees are joining the family Given my research project on refugees and the family as a structure for political … [Read more...]