Mexican immigrants in Canada: Between flexible and multiple borders

Radio Canada International interviewed Paloma Villegas, sociologist and professor at the University of Toronto, who participated at our 2018 Congress in the panel "A complex account of two countries: Mexico and Canada amid structural changes and its impact on Mexican citizens."

"The use of metaphors, like the 'surge' of immigrants, or the reference to an animalisation, that is to say, a group of immigrants will arrive like animals, prepares the audience. Maybe the person who writes (the article) does it on purpose or not, but this prepares the audience to think that immigrants are dangerous, when in fact they migrate because they have to, not because they want to affect Canadians. "

"In the presentation she made in the city of Montreal, Villegas spoke of the different types of borders that were formed as of 2009. [...] For example, in 2009 with the visa, the border was moved to the south, which call outsourcing. He moved at that moment because the immigration agents in Mexico were the ones who could make the decision about who could enter and for how long."

In addition to the presentation of Dr. Paloma Villegas, the panel included Dr. M. Teresa Gutierrez-Haces, from UNAM, who presented the paper "The growing identification of governments and corporations through NAFTA. Their consequences for the Mexico-Canada relationship," Dr. Laura Macdonald, from Carleton University, who presented the paper "Toward a 'Solidarity of the Weak'? Canada-Mexico Relations and the Trump Challenge," Dr. Ruth Zavala, from UNAM, with the presentation "The potential of the Canada-Mexico relationship for the construction of environmental governance in North America," and PhD candiate Alejandro Hernández, from Carleton University, who presented the paper" Mexican 'Bogus Refugees:' The Political Economy of Securitization of Migration in Canada."

The full article can be found here.