The social organization of Canada's inland refugee determination system is explored in
this institutional ethnographic study. First listening to refugee claimants' experience from their
vantagepoint on the margins of society, the research then explicates the complementary social
relations of the refugee determination system in order to examine the contributing social
organization and underlying ideology of the politico-administrative system.
Three adult, English-speaking single Nigerian men, seeking Convention refugee status or
permanent resident status, were interviewed. Phenomenological methods were utilized to analyze
the data. An initial explication of the social relations of the system was conducted through the
observation of refugee determination hearings and interviews with knowledgeable informants.
Through these interviews and textual analysis, ideology at the politico-administrative level was
explored.
The findings reveal a contradiction between refugees' expectations based on Canada's
international reputation in refugee protection and support of democratic rights, and their
reception in Canada. Refugee claimants spoke of their dual experience as characterized by
exclusion and marginalization from Canadian society at the very time that they needed to
reconstruct their sense of self and adapt; of being held suspect as 'criminals' and 'illegals' by the
refugee determination system until proven 'genuine'. Inclusion depended on success in the
socially, culturally, and politically constructed Canadian refugee determination system; a process
that was foreign to them. Comprehension and successful participation in this process depended in
part on the support, resources, and information they accessed during their initial settlement
period.
The organization of the refugee determination system with a focus on the Immigration
and Refugee Board (IRB) revealed complex independent decision-making in a highly
decentralized, but hierarchical and non-transparent administrative system. Inconsistencies in
decision making and in the degree to which refugees had the opportunity to relate their
experience in refugee determination hearings were articulated and observed. Aspects of the
system such as selection of members, institutional culture, independence of the IRB, and
discourse on refugees in the Canadian media and society were indicators of how the social
relations of the system were organized by an underlying ideology. Implications for the profession
of social work and for social change were examined.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/14289 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Lokhorst, Augusta Louise |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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