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Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

A Family Matter

Citizenship, Conjugal Relationships, and Canadian Immigration Policy

Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

A Family Matter

Citizenship, Conjugal Relationships, and Canadian Immigration Policy

What is family? Citing national security and societal welfare, the Harper government adopted a strict definition of family to limit access to citizenship for certain immigrants. Megan Gaucher analyzes the government’s assessment of sexual-minority refugee claimants’ relationship history, common-law and married spousal sponsorship applications, and marriage fraud, concluding that this narrative of citizenship reinforces racialized, gendered, and sexualized assumptions about the “Canadian family.” As many Western governments ponder more restrictive immigration policies, A Family Matter offers a timely examination of the Canadian approach and proposes a course for re-evaluating how family is defined and for implementing fairer assessments of immigrants and refugees.

244 pages | © 2018

Political Science: Public Policy


Table of Contents

Introduction

1 Invisibility of Family in the Canadian Conversation

2 Inside/Outside Families: The Politics of Relationship Recognition in Canadian Law and Policy

3 The Role of Relationships in Canadian Refugee Determination Process for Sexual Minorities

4 An Education in Conjugality: Experiences of Common-Law Couples with Spousal Sponsorship

5 Canada’s Anti–Marriage Fraud Campaign and the Production of “Legitimate” Conjugal Citizens

6 Rethinking Conjugality

Conclusion

Notes

Works Cited

Index

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