I have been struggling to articulate a project that feels compelling and relevant and doable. Mostly I’ve just felt overwhelmed and tired and sad, and maybe over-focused on the big picture, in ways that have encumbered my progress. I just had to decide a place to start – so I think this will be it:

Context: Québec has acknowledged the existence of “Guardian Angels”. The Premier, François Legault, used this name to speak of the asylum seekers who worked in healthcare during the first wave of the pandemic. His party, the Coalition Avenir Québec (yes, the CAQ) campaigned on a limited immigration, assimilationist platform that is neither separatist, nor federalist per ce. The pandemic, however, created an opportunity to shine a light on the crucial role of migrant labor in the province, particularly in care and agriculture work.

A group of activists working under the banner of “Debout pour la dignité” (Standing up for dignity), lobbied the province for regularization for migrant essential workers through the first part of the pandemic. Meanwhile other groups have been calling for Status for All, and the regularization of all migrants, not just a limited swath of ‘essential’ workers. Debout pour la dignité succeeded in getting the media attention necessary, and Legault and Trudeau put together a plan which should regularize some asylum seekers who worked in old folks homes and hospitals during the early days of the crisis. The program is called “The Special Program for Asylum Seekers During COVID-19″.

For my contribution to our collective project, I will do a discourse analysis around this special program, to consider how the pandemic is used to secure/destabilize different visions of the migration regime. First, I will analyze the program itself and any media that has been released about it. I will also attempt to get information from the government about the decision-making process (any tips on how to do this would be welcome!).

Simultaneously, I will look at media coverage of the program inside Québec and Canada, with a keen eye to how ideas of sovereignty(ies), territory, and securitization are mobilized.

I’m still thinking about my redefinitions, but I’ll have them posted in another post real soon!