http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5956-3164
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Abstract
This article uses theories of political economy, immigration securitization, and critical race theory, and uses two historical periods as case studies, to advance understanding of how immigration has been securitized across various scales, fields, and temporalities since the nineteenth century. The racialization and Othering of individuals identified as a risk to Canada’s nation-building project led to the constitution of diverse security formations. Each formation included social and national components, even if weighted differently depending on their context.
Notes
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank and acknowledge the Omàmiwininìwag for my being able to write this article in the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin nation. I also thank the two reviewers for their very helpful critiques and suggestions, as well as Valerie Stam and Ajay Parasram for their comments on an initial draft. All opinions expressed here are, however, my sole responsibility.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 The Daily Globe, “Pauper Immigration,” 38.
2 The Daily Globe, “Pauper Immigration,” 38.
3 The Globe, “Indigent Emigrant,” 78.
4 The Globe, “Indigent Emigrant,” 78.
5 The Globe, “Indigent Emigrant,” 78.
6 Buzan et al. in Watson, “The ‘Human,’” 3.
7 Dobrowolsky, “(In)security and Citizenship.”
8 Dobrowolsky, “(In)security and Citizenship,” 630, 631.
9 Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security,” 170.
10 Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security,” 160, 161.
11 Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security,” 161, 173.
12 Walters, “Migration and Security.”
13 See Abu-Laban and Gabriel, “Security, Immigration”; Dhamoon and Abu-Laban, “Dangerous (Internal) Foreigners”; Dobrowolsky, “Interrogating ‘Invisibilization’;” Ibrahim, “Securitization”; Moffette and Vadasaria, “Uninhibited Violence”; Whitaker, “Refugees.”
14 Dhamoon and Abu-Laban, “Dangerous (Internal) Foreigners”; Whitaker, Double Standard; Abu-Laban and Gabriel, “Security, Immigration.”
15 Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security.”
16 Dobrowolsky, “(In)security and Citizenship”; Dobrowolsky, Rollings-Magnusson, and Doucet, “Security, Insecurity.”
17 I used ProQuest Historical Newspapers and Newsstream databases. 1847 was the earliest year available in the databases, and I closed the analysis period in 1870, five years after Confederation, to determine if Confederation shaped in any way the potential securitization of immigration as seen through newspaper articles.
18 Clement, “Whither”; Stasiulis, “Political Economy.”
19 Thobani, “Closing Ranks.”
20 Smith, “Racialized”; Creese and Peterson, “Making the News”; Satzewich, “Canadian State.”
21 Creese and Peterson, “Making the News”; Satzewich, “Canadian State.”
22 Anthias and Yuval-Davis, “Concept of ‘Race.’”
23 Dobrowolsky, Rollings-Magnusson, and Doucet, “Security, Insecurity,” 14.
24 Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security,” 160.
25 Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security,” 159, 160, 168.
26 Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security,” 159.
27 Watson, “‘Human,’” 8.
28 Floyd, “Can Securitization,” 429.
29 Roberts, Whence They Came.
30 Roberts, Whence They Came, 57.
31 Thobani, “Closing Ranks”; Creese and Peterson, “Making the News”; Anthias and Yuval-Davis, “Concept of ‘Race’;” Walters, “Putting the Migration-Security”; Watson, “‘Human.’”
32 The Daily Globe, “Immigration,” 2.
33 Canada, “Respecting Immigration,” 1910, 15.
34 The Daily Globe, “Expected Immigrants,” 2.
35 The Globe, “Canada in 1848,” 2.
36 As Arat-Koç notes in “New Whiteness(es),” the identity marker of whiteness—that is, who is identified as “white”—however, has shifted over time in North America. For instance, Irish and Southern and Eastern Europeans were not considered “white” for some time.
37 The Globe, “Colored Race,” 210.
38 Canada, “Respecting Immigration,” 1869. Certainly, some provinces had passed various Acts regarding travellers (Nova Scotia in 1761 and Lower Canada in 1795) and immigrants (for example, Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick between 1832–1833); see Vineberg, Responding to Immigrants. However, here I focus only on Canada’s Acts due to the politico-economic significance of various provinces joining Confederation, and thus extending the geographical impact of any decision made by Parliament.
39 Lahav and Guiraudon, “Comparative Perspectives,” 59.
40 Canada, “Respecting Immigration,” 1869, 37. For comparison purposes, when the Act was assented, the passage price from Toronto to Liverpool in a steamship, as consigned in The Globe, “Classified Ad,” was $28.50 in steerage, $44.50 intermediate, and $68–$88 in a cabin in June 1869. Thus, a $300 bond represented a payment of 953 percent or 574 percent above the price of a steerage or a first-class ticket respectively.
41 Lahav and Guiraudon, “Comparative Perspectives,” 63.
42 Canada, “Respecting Immigration,” 1869, 36.
43 See Salter, “Passports.”
44 Walters, “Border/Control.”
45 Zolberg, “Matters of State,” 73.
46 Torpey, “States”; Lahav and Guiraudon, “Comparative Perspectives”; Zolberg, “Matters of State.”
47 US 47th Congress, “Passenger Act.”
48 US 47th Congress, “Passenger Act,” 214.
49 Canada, “Chinese Immigration.”
50 US 51st Congress, “Immigration Act,” 1084.
51 US 51st Congress, “Immigration Act,” 1084.
52 Canada, “Respecting Immigration,” 1906, 6.
53 Luibhéid, Entry Denied, 32.
54 Canada, “Respecting Immigration,” 1906, 6.
55 Canada, “Respecting Immigration,” 1906, 17.
56 Walker, “Race,” Rights.
57 Pease and Pease, “Opposition” 202–3.
58 The Daily Globe, “Provincial Parliament,” 2.
59 As Shepard, “Diplomatic Racism,” mentions, the Democratic party of Oklahoma began a campaign to disfranchise the state’s Black citizens in 1910, leading some Black Americans to decide to immigrate to Saskatchewan and Alberta.
60 Walker, “Race,” Rights, 127.
61 Canada, “Order-in-Council.”
62 See Pease and Pease, “Opposition,” 213.
63 Schwinghamer, “The Colour Bar.”
64 Shepard, “Diplomatic Racism.”
65 Shepard, “Diplomatic Racism.”
66 Shepard, “Diplomatic Racism.”
67 Shepard, “Diplomatic Racism.”
68 Miller, “On Western Canada.”
69 See Pease and Pease, “Opposition.”
70 Shepard, “Diplomatic Racism.”
71 CBC, “Economic Realities”; Yarhi, “Unemployment.”
72 Although the notion has appeared uninterruptedly since 1985, it appeared significantly between 1987–1989 (642 times), between 1999–2002 (507 times), between 2009–2010 (296 times), in 2012 (216 times), and between 2014–2015 (186 times), with a total of 2,581 mentions in individual articles or letters for the June 1981–September 2017 period.
73 Glenn, “Bogus Refugees.”
74 The Globe and Mail, “Sikhs Still Seek.”
75 Malarek, “Smear Tactics.”
76 Malarek, “Smear Tactics.”
77 Malarek, “Smear Tactics.”
78 SCC, Singh v. Minister.
79 Cleroux, “Ottawa Seeks.”
80 Cleroux, “Ottawa Seeks.”
81 Bindman, “Immigration Officer.”
82 Parliament of Canada, An Act to Amend, 12.
83 Hunter, “Chairman.”
84 The Vancouver Sun, “Illegitimate Refugees.”
85 The Vancouver Sun, “Illegitimate Refugees.”
86 Roberts, Whence They Came, 5.
87 Roberts, Whence They Came, 5.
88 Whitaker, “Refugees.”
89 Abu-Laban and Gabriel, Selling Diversity; Rayside, “Canadian Alliance.”
90 Bangarth, “Complicated History.”
91 Whitaker, “Refugees,” 417.
92 The Toronto Star, “Right-Wing Group.”
93 Mayes, “Minister Gets Threats.”
94 The Ottawa Citizen, “First ‘Refugee’;” Block, “Reaction to Refugees”; Malarek, “Tories Blamed”; Malarek, “Officials Expect Large Influx”; Shalom, “Canadian Callers.”
95 Abu-Laban and Gabriel, Selling Diversity.
96 Thompson and Weinfeld, “Entry and Exit.”
97 The Globe, “Canada in 1848.”
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Alejandro Hernandez-Ramirez
Alejandro Hernandez-Ramirez teaches in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.