An Excessive Demand: Immigrants with Disabilities and Medical Admissability in Canada’s Immigration System

This paper explores barriers to immigration and settlement for people with disabilities attempting migration to Canada. Existing literature on immigration and disability in Canada supplements the stories of three immigrant women with disabilities who shared their experiences of immigration and settlement in loosely structured interviews. This paper draws upon a critical disability studies perspective to emphasize the ways in which immigration policies and practices limit access, particularly the excessive demands provision of the Immigrant and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). A gendered analysis is employed to recognize the specific experiences of women with disabilities immigrating to Canada. This paper finds that the barriers faced by immigrants with disabilities extend beyond the excessive demands provision into other policies and practices that fail to address the intersection of disability and immigration status, and that immigrants with disabilities develop alternative approaches and resistive strategies in navigating their lives during and post-migration.