Community versus Commodity in Francophone Canada: A Multilevel Approach to the Neoliberalization of Immigration

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)
68 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Since the 1990s, Canada's francophone minority communities (FMCs) have become increasingly involved in francophone immigration governance, and this trend has coincided with the wider neoliberalization of immigration in Canada. This article analyzes the implications of the growing influence of a neoliberal immigration policy and the narrative of an ideal immigrant on Canada's FMCs by focussing on the francophone Acadian community in New Brunswick, Canada's only constitutionally bilingual province. Making use of three types of sources - semistructured interviews, debates in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, and official and archival documents - the article argues that francophone and Acadian organizations have adopted the federal, neoliberal perspective on immigration, placing greater emphasis on economic integration and the creation of a bilingual workforce. Changes in the type of immigrant selected and role of the community in the lives of francophone immigrants create new challenges for minority language communities that define and identify themselves through language use and belonging.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)39-60
Number of pages22
JournalCanadian Journal of Political Science
Volume53
Issue number1
Early online date15 Jan 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 Mar 2020

Keywords

  • New Brunswick
  • francophone immigration
  • francophone minority community (FMC)
  • immigration
  • neoliberalization

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Community versus Commodity in Francophone Canada: A Multilevel Approach to the Neoliberalization of Immigration'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this