"At risk" and "a risk": a critical discourse analysis of government and media texts exploring framings of, and responses to, people experiencing homelessness in the context of COVID-19

• Main Author: Jalloh, Chelsea
• Other Authors: Honeyford, Michelle (Curriculum Teaching & Learning), McCabe, Glen (Education), Wylie, Jon (Medical Microbiology), Simon, Rob (University of Toronto)
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Critical discourse analysis; People experiencing homelessness; COVID-19; British Columbia; Canada; Northwest Territories; Yellowknife
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1993/36207

This research takes place at the locus of three converging topics: the lived experience of people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in Canada, the discourses that shape and are shaped by sociopolitical framing and positioning of PEH, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019 has had a tremendous and sustained impact throughout the world. Consistent with other public health crises, COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated existing social inequities. With recognition that diverse experiences and identities are included among PEH, on the whole, PEH in Canada have experienced a high level of social exclusion and marginalization even prior to COVID-19. This social exclusion is both a result of, and a contributor to, dominant social discourses about PEH. In this study, I have explored ways in which PEH have been considered, framed, and responded to within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To do so, I used a critical discourse analysis methodology to analyze 16 government texts created in response to COVID-19, and 40 media texts addressing PEH during the context of COVID-19. The texts were selected from four urban centers in Canada: Winnipeg (Manitoba), Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), Vancouver (British Columbia) and Halifax (Nova Scotia); federal government documents were also included. Using guiding research questions informed by critical literacy theory and critical discourse analysis, the inherent subjectivity of the text (and subjective interpretations of the text); authorial choices—such as language, framings of PEH, intended audience, whose voice(s) are represented in the texts (and how); and the ways in which power is embodied in and through these texts were identified and critically examined. The findings inform a discussion of critical frames and themes that crosscut government and media discourses of PEH during COVID-19; concepts of belonging and othering in sociopolitical texts and discourses; and the ways that problems and solutions related to PEH, to ...