Economic Heroes, 'Bogus' Asylum Claimants, and Genuine Refugees: a Discourse-Historical Analysis of Recent Changes to Immigration Policy, 2010 to 2012

The neoliberalization and securitization of immigration policy have accelerated in recent years. My goal is to demonstrate this premise. Using the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), I chart the contemporary history of Canadian immigration policy developments and how subjects of immigration policy have been discursively produced. I then introduce changes made to immigration policy between January 2010 and June 2012, how such changes have been introduced and how they have been justified by the current government. I do this by applying the DHA to a textual sample of parliamentary speeches, CIC news releases, and articles from two major newspapers. The three main discursive policy themes explored are (1) The current economic stream is too cumbersome for the new economy (2) The refugee determination system is in need of repair and (3) Canada's immigration system is in danger of being undermined due to illicit activities. Justification patterns within these discourses are analyzed.