Context: This thesis analyzes media coverage in Canada of environmentally displaced people (EDP) due to their recent prominence in political discussions on a national and international level as well as in the literature. Objectives: This thesis has three goals, notably (1) to raise awareness of EDP as a social phenomenon; (2) to understand how EDP are currently constructed in the public sphere; and (3) to analyze whether Canadian media characterizes EDP within discourses of victimization and/or devictimization. Ultimately, this thesis investigates: How does Canadian print media represent environmentally displaced people? Methodology: A total of 149 (132 English and 17 French) Canadian news articles, appearing from 2000 to 2017, were selected for analysis through a search strategy that included specific key words. The articles selected appeared in the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun, Le Journal de Québec, La Presse, and Canada Newswire. Results: The results were analyzed by using a frame analysis. Based on this analysis, a few key points were commonly used to represent EDP, including the uncertainty over which terms to use, their quantification, as well as a scare tactic to entice action towards climate change. Overall, the media tended to portray EDP using themes of devictimization. Conclusion: Future research should be conducted to continue to analyze media representations of those displaced. It is also imperative to collect more data on EDP in order to resolve the debate around their definition and officially recognize one term to help facilitate research and increase the legitimacy of those displaced - whether they are recognized as migrants or refugees.

The Thesis begins with an analysis of the effects of environmental disasters and various approaches of states to mitigate them. The results of this analysis evidence that while some effects of environmental disasters are more visible and easier to evaluate, as in the case of sudden onset disasters, others are less visible and grow more deadly over time, as in the case of slow onset disasters. Moreover, the effects of environmental disasters on people depend heavily on the state’s capacity to mitigate such effects. Then Author of the Thesis turns to the existing definitions for environmentally displaced people and as all existing definitions do not take into account the level of state protection available, a new definition is proposed. The new definition limits the scope to people seeking international protection due to environmental events, for which their country of origin does not offer any protection. It is analyzed in the second part of this Thesis the application of 1951 Geneva Convention to environmentally displaced people. Based on the assessment of state practice and the works of the most prominent scholars it is showed that environmentally displaced people may in fact be refugees, however, in a very small number of scenarios. The problem is that all of those scenarios are traditional refugee situations and environmental factors are not decisive circumstances when migration authorities determine if person is entitled to refugee status. Socio-economic rights within... [to full text] / Magistro baigiamasis darbas pradedamas gamtinių nelaimių sukeliamų padarinių ir valstybių veiksmų siekiant sumažinti jų padarinius analize. Analizė rodo, kad kai kurios gamtinės nelaimės gali būti lengviau pastebimos, tokios kaip staigios gamtinės nelaimės, o kitos sunkiau pastebimos ir įvertinimo, tokios kaip iš lėto besivystančios gamtinės nelaimės. Be to, gamtinių nelaimių padarinių sunkumas priklauso nuo to ar valstybė yra pajėgi sumažinti padarinius. Tuomet Magistro baigiamajame darbe yra analizuojami esami dėl gamtos nelaimių migruojančių asmenų apibrėžimai ir atsižvelgiant į tai, kad visi esami apibrėžimai nevertina kilmės valstybės teikiamos apsaugos, yra siūlomas naujas apibrėžimas. Šis apibrėžimas yra apribotas žmonėmis, siekiančiais tarptautinės apsaugos dėl gamtinių nelaimių, kurie negali pasinaudoti kilmės valstybės apsauga. Antrojoje šio Magistro baigiamojo darbo dalyje analizuojamas 1951 m. Ženevos Konvencijos „Dėl pabėgėlių statuso“ taikymas dėl gamtinių nelaimių migruojantiems asmenims. Atliktas valstybių praktikos ir doktrinos tyrimas atskleidė, kad dėl gamtinių nelaimių migruojantys asmenys gali būti pabėgėliais, tačiau tik išskirtinais atvejais. Be to, visais šiais atvejais paskatos palikti savo šalį dėl gamtinės nelaimės, nėra lemiantys faktoriai suteikti pabėgėlio statusą. Trečiojoje dalyje yra analizuojamas ryšys tarp socialinių, ekonomių teisių, non-refoulement principo ir gamtinių nelaimių. Analizė atskleidė, kad rimti socialinių, ekonominių teisių... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]