Strengthening Labour and Employment Rights For Illegalized Workers

This major research paper (MRP) takes a critical perspective on the neo-liberal policies that are generating illegalized immigrants, notably the temporary foreign workers program. The state is fully aware that these policies are generating a pool of flexible and exploitable illegalized workers. In order to show the public that it is controlling the “illegal” immigration phenomenon, the state continues to uphold strict border patrol and immigration laws. However, state tactics are merely for show, as most illegalized immigrants originally enter through legal avenues. Many illegalized immigrants are forced into the underground workforce, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by employers. Although Toronto is a Sanctuary City and provides access to illegalized immigrants, it cannot fully protect them from workplace violations, as labour and employment rights are under provincial jurisdiction. Thus, Ontario should become a Sanctuary Province, in order to provide equitable employment to illegalized workers.

Strengthening Labour and Employment Rights For Illegalized Workers

This major research paper (MRP) takes a critical perspective on the neo-liberal policies that are generating illegalized immigrants, notably the temporary foreign workers program. The state is fully aware that these policies are generating a pool of flexible and exploitable illegalized workers. In order to show the public that it is controlling the “illegal” immigration phenomenon, the state continues to uphold strict border patrol and immigration laws. However, state tactics are merely for show, as most illegalized immigrants originally enter through legal avenues. Many illegalized immigrants are forced into the underground workforce, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by employers. Although Toronto is a Sanctuary City and provides access to illegalized immigrants, it cannot fully protect them from workplace violations, as labour and employment rights are under provincial jurisdiction. Thus, Ontario should become a Sanctuary Province, in order to provide equitable employment to illegalized workers.

Migration Management, Disciplinary Power, and Performances of Subjectivity: Agricultural Migrant Workers’ in Ontario

Agricultural migrant workers, recruited to work in Canada under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP), are disciplined to be compliant and productive. Based on ethnographic data, we draw attention to several ways in which Spanish-speaking migrants, employed in agriculture in a rural community in Southwestern Ontario, respond to this disciplinary power. Most migrants discipline themselves and others to be productive and compliant workers. We refer to these acts as “performances of self-discipline.” At other times, some (albeit, few) migrants challenge this disciplinary power either individually or collectively. We refer to these performances of subjectivity as “performances of defiance.” Another way migrants may respond to the disciplinary power is by attempting to escape from it. Coining these performances “performances of escape,” we discuss how some agricultural migrant workers drop out of the program and remain in Canada without authorization. By turning attention to these performances of subjectivity, the article fills a gap in the literature on migration management and its disciplinary practices in Canada.