Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis
This paper offers a comparative analysis of official discourse surrounding three incidents of asylum seekers arriving in Canada by boat: the Komagata Maru in 1914; the Sri Lankans who arrived in Newfoundland on lifeboats in 1986; and the Ocean Lady in 2009. The objective is to assess Canada’s commit...
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2011
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32088 https://doaj.org/article/56b14fc33151424fa2a1295fdedd5f2c |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:56b14fc33151424fa2a1295fdedd5f2c 2023-05-15T17:22:15+02:00 Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis Alexandra Mann 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32088 https://doaj.org/article/56b14fc33151424fa2a1295fdedd5f2c EN FR eng fre York University Libraries https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/32088 https://doaj.org/toc/0229-5113 https://doaj.org/toc/1920-7336 doi:10.25071/1920-7336.32088 0229-5113 1920-7336 https://doaj.org/article/56b14fc33151424fa2a1295fdedd5f2c Refuge, Vol 26, Iss 2 (2011) Communities. Classes. Races HT51-1595 article 2011 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32088 2022-12-31T02:35:14Z This paper offers a comparative analysis of official discourse surrounding three incidents of asylum seekers arriving in Canada by boat: the Komagata Maru in 1914; the Sri Lankans who arrived in Newfoundland on lifeboats in 1986; and the Ocean Lady in 2009. The objective is to assess Canada’s commitment to protecting refugees at these three points in history and evaluate academic contentions that the concept of the refugee is being eroded. The selected incidents trace the emergence and decline of the notion of the refugee in Canadian official discourse. Even during the peak of Canada’s commitment to refugees in the 1980s, the discourse reveals blurriness between the ideas of the “refugee” and the “illegal migrant.” However, the characterization of asylum seekers as “illegals” is more intense now than in the earlier periods. This shift in the discourse warrants attention as we face the prospect of what Audrey Macklin describes as the “discursive disappearance of the refugee.” Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Audrey ENVELOPE(-67.100,-67.100,-68.133,-68.133) Macklin ENVELOPE(64.600,64.600,-69.950,-69.950) Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees 26 2 165 182 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English French |
topic |
Communities. Classes. Races HT51-1595 |
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Communities. Classes. Races HT51-1595 Alexandra Mann Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis |
topic_facet |
Communities. Classes. Races HT51-1595 |
description |
This paper offers a comparative analysis of official discourse surrounding three incidents of asylum seekers arriving in Canada by boat: the Komagata Maru in 1914; the Sri Lankans who arrived in Newfoundland on lifeboats in 1986; and the Ocean Lady in 2009. The objective is to assess Canada’s commitment to protecting refugees at these three points in history and evaluate academic contentions that the concept of the refugee is being eroded. The selected incidents trace the emergence and decline of the notion of the refugee in Canadian official discourse. Even during the peak of Canada’s commitment to refugees in the 1980s, the discourse reveals blurriness between the ideas of the “refugee” and the “illegal migrant.” However, the characterization of asylum seekers as “illegals” is more intense now than in the earlier periods. This shift in the discourse warrants attention as we face the prospect of what Audrey Macklin describes as the “discursive disappearance of the refugee.” |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Alexandra Mann |
author_facet |
Alexandra Mann |
author_sort |
Alexandra Mann |
title |
Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis |
title_short |
Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis |
title_full |
Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis |
title_fullStr |
Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Refugees Who Arrive by Boat and Canada’s Commitment to the Refugee Convention: A Discursive Analysis |
title_sort |
refugees who arrive by boat and canada’s commitment to the refugee convention: a discursive analysis |
publisher |
York University Libraries |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32088 https://doaj.org/article/56b14fc33151424fa2a1295fdedd5f2c |
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ENVELOPE(-67.100,-67.100,-68.133,-68.133) ENVELOPE(64.600,64.600,-69.950,-69.950) |
geographic |
Canada Audrey Macklin |
geographic_facet |
Canada Audrey Macklin |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_source |
Refuge, Vol 26, Iss 2 (2011) |
op_relation |
https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/article/view/32088 https://doaj.org/toc/0229-5113 https://doaj.org/toc/1920-7336 doi:10.25071/1920-7336.32088 0229-5113 1920-7336 https://doaj.org/article/56b14fc33151424fa2a1295fdedd5f2c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.32088 |
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Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees |
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26 |
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2 |
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165 |
op_container_end_page |
182 |
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1766108762935918592 |