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Anti-Refugee Sentiment in Canada

Anti-Refugee Sentiment in Canada. Canada’s Role. Source: Canadian Council for Refugees, 2011. Canada’s Role. In all countries, with some variation, majority is ‘ restrictionist ’ : Believes country has accepted enough refugees and asylum seekers, (Simon & Lynch, 1999).

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Anti-Refugee Sentiment in Canada

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  1. Anti-Refugee Sentiment in Canada

  2. Canada’s Role Source: Canadian Council for Refugees, 2011.

  3. Canada’s Role • In all countries, with some variation, majority is ‘restrictionist’: • Believes country has accepted enough refugees and asylum seekers, (Simon & Lynch, 1999). • BUT, did you know that Canada accepts only about 0.1% of the world’s refugees!(Amnesty International Canada, 2011).

  4. Chinese Migrants, 1999

  5. Tamil Migrants, 2009

  6. Unexpected Findings • Canadians actually support high immigration levels! • Pro-immigration explanations • political • *economic • education • age • gender Source: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2011.

  7. Why not pro-refugees then? Research Question: What can help explain the rise in anti-refugee sentiment in Canada? • Dependent variable • Anti-refugee sentiment • Independent variables • Political • Affiliation • Rhetoric • Economicfactors • Individual • National • Social factors • Education • Age • Gender • Threat to national identity? • Media influence: tone; discourse

  8. Negative Framing • Media and political discourse • “Illegal migrants, queue jumpers, mass arrivals, smugglers” (Neve & Russell, 2011). • “Resource stealers” and security threats(Rutledge, 2011). • Political rhetoric • “Canada’s Generous Program for Refugee Resettlement Is Undermined by Human Smugglers Who Abuse Canada’s Immigration System” Source: Public Safety Canada, 2010 News Release • “Our government is committed to cracking down on bogus refugees.”Source: Immigration Minister’s spokeswoman, 2010.

  9. Potential Challenges • Are the two cases even comparable? • 1999- We were just coming out of economic tough times • 2009- We had just had an economic crash • Is the anti-refugee sentiment only specific to migrants who arrive by boats? • Are the cases only “situational triggers,” ? (Sniderman et al., 2004). • Direction of causation • Do elite attitudes (politicians) influence public attitudes? Or do public attitudes influence elite attitudes?

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