(De)Constructing Credibility: Examining the Power of Childhood in Unaccompanied Refugee Decision-Making

Abstract

Our study examines how factors associated with normative conceptions of childhood shape Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board adjudicators’ interpretations of evidence and justifications for decisions. We examine Canadian case file transcripts to highlight the factors that shape IRB members’ decisions to accept or reject children’s claims. Through analyzing IRB members’ language, discourses, and rationales for their decisions, we show that their operating childhood knowledges play a key role in their decisions. We demonstrate the power of childhood discourses and how they illustrate what we call “governing with childhood.” Our analysis highlights the importance of social, cultural, and political knowledges in immigration and refugee hearings; through examining the discretionary power of administrative decision-makers, we argue that normative conceptions of childhood are operationalized to justify the (de)construction of credibility.

Keywords:

• Unaccompanied refugee children
• credibility
• discretion, childhood
• legal decision-making

Notes

1 The IRB consists of the Refugee Protection Division, Refugee Appeal Division, Immigration Division, and Immigration Appeal Division (see IRB website https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-2.5/page-1.html#h-274120).

2 See s. 159(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for a list of duties of the Chairperson. The Chairperson’s Guidelines are authorized through s. 159(1)(h).

3 See Guideline 3, Child Refugee Claimants, Procedure and Evidentiary Issues. Guidelines Issued by the Chairperson Pursuant to Section 159(1)(h) of the Immigration Act. This document has been in effect since September 30, 1996.

4 Identifying cases where children are trafficked or smuggled is extremely important for both research and policy—especially considering that research highlights children from poor families or children who lack economic and educational opportunities are at a heightened risk for being trafficked or smuggled (see O’Connell Davidson, 2011).

5 Some parts of files are not made public usually in order to protect the identity of children. In such cases it is usually indicated in the file that evidence has been removed. However, due to acquiring full access from Ottawa, no files or evidence were removed from the cases used in our analysis.

6 See Guideline 3, Child Refugee Claimants, Procedure and Evidentiary Issues.

7 Although these cases involved minors under the age of 18, we have not altered their names since they are already published on official court documents or are already anonymized.

8 Dr. Michael Szonyi completed his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford and was an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto at the time of Lily’s hearing.

9 Snakeheads are commonly located in Fujian province of China and are known for illegal migration practices that often lead to bribery and hostage taking. She came to Canada with 134 other people.

10 Research has yet to conclude on whether there is a variance between the success rates of male and female unaccompanied minors (see Reyes, 2010, p. 305). In the four cases analyzed for this paper, it may be entirely possible that the claimants’ genders play a role in the decision-making of the IRB panel, but there is not enough evidence to fully substantiate this claim.