Locating the Concept of Vulnerability in Canada’s Refugee Policies at Home and Abroad

Melissa Mary Anderson and Dagmar Soennecken
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Melissa Mary Anderson: Graduate Program in Socio-Legal Studies, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
Dagmar Soennecken: School of Public Policy and Administration, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada

Laws, 2022, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-25

Abstract: How is the concept of “vulnerability” employed in Canadian immigration law? This article presents findings from research conducted as part of the VULNER project (2019–23). We analyze how vulnerability is operationalized in Canada’s inland refugee (or asylum) determination procedures compared to its overseas resettlement program by first discussing some general principles, followed by an examination of the treatment of women and LGBTQI+ individuals seeking protection. We show that legal-bureaucratic logics have constructed two very heterogeneous worlds of vulnerability that may reproduce and exacerbate vulnerabilities rather than create a more inclusive, equitable protection regime in law, policy, and practice.

Keywords: vulnerability; precariousness; refugees; asylum; Canada; discretion; bureaucracy; administrative law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D78 E61 E62 F13 F42 F68 K0 K1 K2 K3 K4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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