Canadian Politics

A01(a) - Political Parties, Political Discourses and Immigration

Date: Jun 3 | Time: 08:30am to 10:00am | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Edward Koning (University of Guelph)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Edward Koning (University of Guelph)

Party rhetoric, immigration policy, and immigration flows in Canada and the United States: Michael J Donnelly (University of Toronto), Brad Wood-MacLean (University of British Columbia), Salar Asadolahi (McMaster University), Matthew Polacko (University of Toronto)
Abstract: Immigration is a major political issue in both the United States and Canada. This stands in stark contrast to the post-war period, when rates of migration were much lower in both countries. In this paper, we present new data on the positions taken on immigration by parties in Canada and the United States. Following the work of the Comparative Manifesto Project and an extension by Dancygier and Margalit (2020), we developed a measure of the salience and valence of immigration in major party manifestos since 1945 in both countries. This allows us to compare the levels of polarization before and after big reforms in policy and to trace the effect of both the governing party's positions and the position of the major opposition parties on actual migration flows. We identify key moments of discordance in position taking and flows and offer case studies of these outliers to show the role of institutional variation in shaping policy outputs. We contribute to the literature on policy responsiveness and the relationship between institutions and the policy process.

Parties and immigration in Canada: An analysis over time and across venues: Mireille Paquet (Concordia University), Andrea Lawlor (McMaster University), Erin Tolley (Carleton University), Brianna Losinger-Ross (Concordia University)
Abstract: Despite political parties being a key building block of Canadian democracy, and immigration being an important building block of Canadian society, Canadian scholars have tended to look at the historical and contemporary connection between immigration and parties only at a high level of abstraction. Using a text-as-data approach, this paper presents research on party platforms, parliamentary debates, and media discourse to document the positions taken by Canadian federal political parties on immigration-related issues from 1967 to the present. We ask: 1) What policy positions have Canadian federal parties adopted on immigration-related issues since 1967? 2) How has the Canadian immigration-related political space been structured from 1967 to present day? and 3) Have Canadian federal parties been congruent in their positions and discourse about immigration in different political venues, namely: parliament, the media and electoral campaigns? We address these questions using data from digitized Hansard available through the Linked Parliamentary Data Project (LIPAD, Beelen et al. 2017), from digitized party platforms made available through the Poltext research initiative at Université Laval and from an original dataset of media coverage of parties and immigration over time Our results points to the building blocks of a theoretical framework to analyze Canadian political parties’ positioning, polarization, and cleavages on immigration-related issues.

Refugee experiences of integration in small and medium-sized communities in Canada: Maissaa Almustafa (University of Waterloo), Jasmin Habib (University of Waterloo)
Abstract: Refugees arrive at their destinations normally after experiencing periods of intense suffering and disorientation, a status that affects their ability to integrate in their new localities. Understanding integration as a process of inclusion and participation, refugee integration becomes a challenging transformative experience for refugees and their host communities. Whether it is the “Holistic Model of Integration” or the “Whole-of-Community” model, a comprehensive understanding of refugee integration implies addressing their lived experiences, diverse resettlement practices and integration policies, the institutional infrastructure available in their new communities, socioeconomic factors, among a wide range of actors interacting at multiple levels. This approach combines examining the “social context” of host communities with exploring the various aspects of integration including the material aspects of employment, housing, language training, and healthcare, with a special focus on the emotional aspects of social connections, and the subjective aspects of belonging and homemaking. In this sense, the study of refugee integration involves addressing the interrelationships between refugees’ individual and communal accomplishments and the structural opportunities and barriers they face in their new localities. This experience can be more distinctive in smaller communities that generally characterized by their lack of ethnic diversity, limited exposure to immigration, and a general shortage of resettlement resources. Nevertheless, stronger local social bonds may offer unexpected levels of acceptance, community mobilization, and a greater sense of familiarity. This paper aims to address the knowledge gap around refugee integration by focusing on the multifaceted experiences of refugee integration in small and medium communities in Canada.