Germans are among the largest ethnic groups, both in Canada as a whole and in British Columbia. Nevertheless, neither nationally, nor provincially, has this group received much academic attention, especially for the years between the end of the Second World War and the building of the Berlin Wall when about 200,000 German-speaking persons arrived in Canada. Based on the life stories of fifty German immigrants interviewed in British Columbia, published biographies, and archival records from Germany and Canada, this study reconstructs the conditions in interwar and postwar Europe that led to the mass-emigration of Germans in the late 1940s and the 1950s. It argues that this migration movement was not only influenced by government policies and the support of humanitarian organizations, but also by the existence of earlier settlement facilitating chain migrations to Canada. From the port of entry, the dissertation follows the immigrants’ adaptation and integration into Canadian society. Though the vast majority of them did not speak any English, or know much about their adopted country, except that it must be better than what they left in war-torn Europe, Germans are generally ranked among the best integrated ethnic groups in Canada. Yet, despite this assessment, the picture emerging from the sources strongly questions the existence of a singular German immigrant identity in Canada. The distinct self-perceptions of German nationals and ethnic Germans based on their experiences in Europe during the Second World War created striking differences in their patterns of immigration and adaptation to life in Canada which are still discernible after over half a century of settlement in North America.

My thesis examines the role and regulation of private, for-profit employment agencies in the British Columbia labour market with respect to the recruitment of temporary foreign workers. In it, I reviewed the historical origins of employment agency legislation in Canada. I go on to describe Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program in connection with the transfer of federal immigration authority to the provinces. I also present a case study demonstrating how temporary foreign workers are recruited for the Live-in Caregiver Program in British Columbia, and use the study as a basis for comparing British Columbia’s employment agency legislation with the agency licensing regimes in the other Western Provinces. I conclude that Manitoba’s recent Worker Recruitment and Protection Act frames a best practice model for the protection of foreign workers during the recruitment process, and I encourage other provinces like British Columbia to develop and legislatively frame a similar set of best practices. / Graduate

Recently in Britain there has been an on-going discussion on the right of European citizens to move to, work and reside freely in any European Union member-state. British politicians and media, stepping on the significant number of Eastern Europeans who moved to the United Kingdom, articulated a securitising discourse representing them as ‘benefit tourists’ and criminals who threaten the integrity of the welfare system and social cohesion. However, this is only part of the securitisation story. This paper argues that the securitisation of mobile European citizens and, consequently of the right of free movement itself, is used as governmentality in order to allow in the country only those who are needed and keep the rest out, and at the same time to raise support for a renegotiation of the relationship between Britain and the European Union. It will be demonstrated that the securitisation process takes place through policies and everyday practices on the one hand, and through the securitising discourse articulated by politicians and media on the other. Moreover, the possibility of securitisation having a long-lasting effect by creating a security rationale in which all future policies would be embedded is assessed.

From 1933 to 1945, thousands of European Jews attempted to gain access to Canada in order to escape Nazi oppression. This thesis examines Canada’s immigration records and policies during this period. In addition to bringing light to key issues concerning popular Canadian perceptions of Jewish immigrants and refugees in the thirties and forties, this history raises important questions about the Canadian government and ethical responsibility in a time of war; about the relationship between government policy and provincial politics; and about the position taken by Canada’s longest serving Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, and his Cabinet. The author’s research brings attention to Irving Abella and Harold Troper’s work, None is too Many, which, since its publication in 1982, has stood as the authoritative work on the subject. A variety of important issues which are not treated in detail in this earlier monograph are examined in depth in this analysis: The prevalence of anti-Semitism in French and English Canada, and the Canadian immigration record are treated in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 and 4 investigate accusations that William Lyon Mackenzie King, Ernest Lapointe, Frederick Charles Blair, and Vincent Massey harboured anti-Semitic views. It is found that such charges suffer from a serious lack of evidence. Although sometimes the language used by these men in their correspondence and letters can be shocking to the modern reader, it was the colloquial language during their lives. Furthermore, their personal documents often exhibit evidence of sincere sympathy for the Jews of Europe, and frustration with Canadian popular opinion. The author concludes that collective memory of the Holocaust has affected perceptions concerning the Canadian immigration record during the period in question. Anti-immigration sentiment was strong in Canada during the Depression. Nevertheless, as the Canadian Government became increasingly aware of the persecution of Jews within the Reich, particularly following the events of Kristallnacht in November of 1938, measures were put into place to ease Jewish immigration to Canada, such as including refugees among the admissible classes of immigrants. The Canadian Government did not begin to receive information concerning the extermination of European Jewry until 1942. By this time, there was hardly anything Canada could do. Heinrich Himmler had forbidden Jewish emigration from the Reich in October of 1941, the war was in full swing by 1942, and ships carrying refugees and PoWs were not safe from U-boat attacks. From 1933 to 1945 Canada allowed 8,787 Jews into the country. However, all immigration to Canada was slowed during this time. Consequently, Jews, in actuality, represented a higher percentage of immigrants arriving in Canada, at this time, than they had from 1923 to 1932. This illustrates Canada’s doors we not closed specifically to Jewish refugees during the Depression and Second World War.

The relation between the immigration policies and state sovereignty in the European Union (EU) is both a most topical and controversial issue. The dissertation is conceived as a disciplinary interpretative study based on the concept of four types of sovereignty by S. Krasner. This approach allows to interpret the seeming contradiction between a state perceived as a sole actor in the area of immigration policy and the communitarization of the immigration policy at the EU level. By using the analysis of discourse as well as of practice, this thesis acknowledges shifts of power to the EU, but stresses that these shifts represent strengthening of other factors of power and control at the same time. Thus, in certain, particularly security, aspects, European harmonization of immigration policy can reinforce state sovereignty. It applies to the external as well as internal dimensions of the EU immigration policy that a part of the policy remains to be decided at the national level. Nevertheless, also the communitarized area offers the member states a significant room for discretion. Thus, there is still considerable tension between the idea of solidarity between member states on one hand and their national interests on the other and the common European immigration policy remains to be achieved in future.

This master thesis deals with the issue of development of the EU immigration policy and expansion of the rights of third-country nationals who have been legally residing in the territory of the Union throughout this development. The aim of this thesis is to outline the crucial milestones in the form of primary and secondary legislation that led to the broadening of the scope of rights of third-country nationals in the Union, while examining their legal status in the Union in general and in the Member States in particular. The first part of this master thesis introduces the historical background, outlines the development in context of the European Union and provides the categorisation of legal third-country nationals residing in the territory of the EU, whereas the second part of the thesis deals with transposition of European legislation into national legislation of the selected Member States - Germany and the Czech Republic - while drawing a line of compliance and emphasising local requirements that were introduced in addition to (but not exceeding the scope of limitation provided by) EU legislation. In order to be able to determine the quality and ease of fit between the EU and the receiving Member States the descriptive content analysis is employed. In the second part of this thesis it is case...

Asymmetry and executive federalism are two unique features that dominate the Canadian political landscape. As a result, federal and provincial governments are in direct negotiations over many current public policy issues, immigration policy notwithstanding. In order to understand the current immigration debate and to evaluate the benefits of greater provincial involvement, it is first necessary to comprehend what motivates provinces to be active in immigration policy-making. Ontario presents an interesting example of a province that used to be quite content with leaving the federal government dominant in the immigration arena but that has recently changed its attitude completely: Ontario is now much more assertive in presenting its demands. Through a comprehensive literature review and a series of interviews of key immigration policy figures, this study analyzes the main motives of Ontario with respect to immigration policy. It finds that they were primarily of economic, demographic, and political nature and that they were mainly connected to the relative decline of Ontario's position within Canada.

The diploma thesis "Migrants on the labour market in Czech Republic" deals with the issue of efficiency of administrative processes in the area of labor migration policy in relation to highly skilled foreigners. This thesis reflects the current setting of labor migration policy, EU program Blue Cards, and trying to find and describe the areas where the implementation of the policy fails. It focuses on specific issues that arise in this process, such as long times for obtaining necessary documents, language barriers, problems of interpretation of laws or qualification level of officials. Key actors in which these facts are analyzed, are especially employers, the NGO sector and foreigners. Methods or methodological bases which are used in thesis are desk research and analysis of data obtained in own semi-structured interviews. The aim of this study is to analyze the settings of labor migration policy with respect to highly skilled foreigners, but also to describe the key issues that arise during this process. As a theoretical base of the whole work is primarily used the theory of implementation of public policy.

Ahead of the 2023 Greek legislative election and given the emerging political landscape, this paper focuses on how the immigration policy shift of the center-right government emerged from 2019 elections has affected the state of liberal democracy in the country. For that purpose, a case study was employed, based on data extracted from immigration policy reports and governing party’s manifestos. This thesis is relying on theories on the relationship between populism, immigration, and liberal democracies. Applying a theory-confirming case study through a qualitative content analysis facilitates researcher to explore how the immigration policy shift and anti-immigrant populism in Greece challenge the political system’s commitment to liberal democracy since 2019. Examining the case of how populist tendencies crept into immigration politics in Greece, the study tries to contribute to the discussion on how populism influences liberal democracies. The normative assessment of this case in a deductive way contributes to the investigation in a given theoretical framework. The thematic analysis suggests that certain aspects of liberal democracy can be challenged by the populist immigration policy shift in Greece.

No description available.