Legislated Inequality: Temporary Labour Migration in Canada

Historically, Canada has adopted immigration policies focused on admitting migrants who were expected to become citizens. A dramatic shift has occurred in recent years as the number of temporary labourers admitted to Canada has increased substantially. Legislated Inequality critically evaluates this radical development in Canadian immigration, arguing that it threatens to undermine Canada's success as an immigrant nation. Assessing each of the four major temporary labour migration programs in Canada, contributors from a range of disciplines - including comparative political science, philosophy, and sociology - show how temporary migrants are posed to occupy a permanent yet marginal status in society and argue that Canada's temporary labour policy must undergo fundamental changes in order to support Canada's long held immigration goals. The difficult working conditions faced by migrant workers, as well as the economic and social dangers of relying on temporary migration to relieve labour shortages, are described in detail. Legislated Inequality provides an essential critical analysis of the failings of temporary labour migration programs in Canada and proposes tangible ways to improve the lives of labourers. --Publisher's description. Contents: The “Difference” that Borders Make: “Temporary Foreign Workers” and the Social Organization of Unfreedom in Canada / Nandita Sharma -- Buy Local, Hire Global: Temporary Migration in Canadian Agriculture / Kerry Preibisch and Jenna L. Hennebry -- Mobilities and Immobilities: Globalization, Farming, and Temporary Work in the Okanagan Valley / Patricia Tomic and Ricardo Trumper -- Debates on Temporary Agricultural Worker Migration in the North American Context / Christina Gabriel and Laura Macdonald -- “The Exception that Proves the Rule”: Structural Vulnerability, Health Risks, and Consequences for Temporary Migrant Farm Workers in Canada / Jenna L. Hennebry and Janet McLaughlin -- Costly Benefits and Gendered Costs: Guatemalans’ Experiences of Canada’s “Low-Skill Pilot Project” / Christine Hughes -- Provincial/Territorial Nominee Programs: An Avenue to Permanent Residency for Low-Skilled Temporary Foreign Workers? / Delphine Nakache and Sarah D’Aoust -- Provincial Nominee Programs and Temporary Worker Programs: A Comparative Assessment of Advantages and Disadvantages in Addressing Labour Shortages / Tom Carter -- The Political Economy of Migrant Live-in Caregivers: A Case of Unfree Labour? / Abigail B. Bakan and Daiva Stasiulis -- From Temporary Worker to Resident: The LCP and Its Impact through an Intersectional Lens / Sara Torres, Denise L. Spitzer, Karen D. Hughes, Jacqueline Oxman-Martinez, and Jill Hanley -- “Good Enough to Work? Good Enough to Stay!” Organizing among Temporary Foreign Workers / Jill Hanley, Eric Shragge, Andre Rivard, and Jahhon Koo -- How Does Canada Fare? Canadian Temporary Labour Migration in Comparative Perspective / Patti Tamara Lenard.