Threatened or threatening? The framing of asylum seekers from the United States in the Canadian newsprint media

Following the implementation of Donald Trump’s Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States, Canada has seen an increase in asylum seekers irregularly entering the country from the United States. The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement is viewed as the main factor why asylum seekers have been crossing irregularly rather than at official border crossings. This study examines how the Canadian newsprint media has been framing these asylum seekers by analyzing 83 articles published in the National Post and The Globe and Mail between January 27, 2017 and April 27, 2017. A directed content analysis and social constructionist lens revealed seven dominant framings of asylum seekers, with the ‘victim/human rights’ framing occurring most frequently. The results of this study show that asylum seekers are more frequently being framed positively than negatively, a likely result of Canadian attempts at national self-differentiation from a negatively-perceived America.