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Can Immigrants Solve Can Immigrants Solve Canada’s Skill Canada’s Skill
Shortage? Shortage?
Dr. Michelle Goldberg
8th National Metropolis Conference, Vancouver
March 25, 2006
Minister of Immigration Minister of Immigration
Joe Volpe (2005)Joe Volpe (2005) “Canada's future is dependent on immigration…
The evidence for this is clear: Our birth rate is among the lowest in the western world, our participation rate is the highest among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, and our unemployment rate continues to fall. Indeed, even smaller centres and rural communities across this country are now entering the competition for new Canadians as they seek to keep the critical mass of people needed for their long-term survival”
Skill Shortage Skill Shortage DiscourseDiscourse• Brain drain and demographic issues
– Low fertility rates, aging population
• Immigrants as solution to crisis• Immigrants as commodity
– Key to building human capital– Add value to economy
• Immigration as a benefit to the nation for economic prosperity
• Investment in economy• Compete in global marketplace
Globalization & Globalization & Neoliberal EraNeoliberal Era• Economic logic used to justify a
market- driven mentality – calls for deregulation or unrestrained
policies – everything is couched in economic terms
and competition – market-driven mentality
• Reduced state spending and eliminate public deficits and debt
Immigration and Immigration and GlobalizationGlobalization• Increased mobility of capital and
persons
• Proliferation of trade agreements– facilitate labour mobility
• Rapid technological advancements – facilitating information flows
• Policies couched in economic terms
The education and skills that immigrants bring are an essential tool that Ontario employers need to utilize to keep pace with global competition
Canada’s National Canada’s National DiscoursesDiscourses• Multiculturalism• Equality• Social justice• Interaction
– “Immigration is not only fair and equitable but makes good economic sense” (Government of Ontario, 1992)
FrameworkFramework• Beyond referential view• Social constructivist view• Social construction of reality through
discourse• Constitutive view of discourse
Discourses are practices that systematically form the objects of which they speak…they are not about objects; they do not identify objects, they constitute them and in the practice of doing so they conceal their own invention (Foucault, 1974, p. 49)
• Informed by ideology
Discursive WebDiscursive Web
• Multiple discourses• Multiple voices• Predominant discourse – Hub• (Con)text• Intertextuality – Gale (1999)• Polycentricity – Hogwood & Gunn
(1990)
• Policy web – Joshee & Johnson (2005)
TruthTruth
• Common sense • Affects our understandings,
thoughts and behaviours which influences the reality we are living in
• Perpetual irritation in media & authority
• Multiple voices
Immigrants as a Benefit Immigrants as a Benefit to Societyto Society• Fill skill shortages• Help business compete globally
– Knowledge of overseas markets, cross cultural communication, language
• Right kind of immigrants who integrate– easily employable upon arrival – contribute quickly to the economy
Impact of Discourse on Impact of Discourse on ImmigrantImmigrant• Ignores other contributions• Depersonalizing• Limits the types of policy solutions• Demands less government policy• Constructs negative immigrant
identities• Ignores racism
Training DiscourseTraining Discourse
• Immigrants as “foreign-trained”– Devalued as not up to Canadian
standards
• Immigration policy as training policy
• Blame the “victim”
Negative ImpactsNegative Impacts
• Negative Immigrant Identities – Drain on resources– Economic migrants
• Negative Attitudes– Threat to social cohesion– Erosion of Canadian national identity
Social Construction of the Social Construction of the “Other”“Other”• Binary• Positive self & negative other
presentation
• Limits what is thinkable• Assimilatory• Facilitates competition• Canadian-born entitled to first
choice
Discursive InteractionsDiscursive Interactions
• Self sufficiency discourse– Home grown solutions
• Distribution discourse– Rural communities
• “Made in Ontario” discourse
ConclusionConclusion
• Neo-liberalism emerges to suppress overtly racist discourses
• Reinforces Canada’s tolerant, pluralistic, free of racism view
• Skill shortage is truth and immigrants are solution
• Only seen through web approach
ImplicationsImplications
• Limits immigrant professionals access to Canadian labour market
• Limits policy makers ability to implement policies to facilitate access
• Training, information and assessment policies distract from systemic change policies
Transformative ActionTransformative Action
• Discourse that constructs positive identities
• Move away from binaries to thirdspace• Highlight social benefits of
immigration• Value immigrant knowledge and
culture• Admit systemic racism exists
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