An undervalued topic of importance for transnational feminism is advocacy and solidarity with undocumented people. While this is an issue primarily understood as existing within the United States, undocumented people exist and struggle in Canada too, as Magalhaes, Carrasco and Gastaldo (2010) discuss. These three authors analyze anonymous cases of undocumented migrants, residing primarily in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, facing barricades by race, citizenship, nationality, gender and more, depending on the individual. The authors look into conditions of life for undocumented folks in Canada, especially as affected by health, work conditions, and services. The authors also importantly begin with a history of how these migrants came to be known as ‘undocumented’ and what circumstances might make up their past, present and future by this label and its constructions.
Reading about stories and experiences of undocumented migrants in Canada is an important social justice issue, as these discourses tend to be U.S.-centred and a marginalized issue within a marginalized issue. Within undocumented communities and activism are crucial, subtle histories of being and becoming the labels ascribed to undocumented migrants, with little to no agency for telling their own stories, circumstances, and struggles without fearing persecution. With citizenship statuses that are socially and politically marginalized and threatened into silence, the different systems of oppression facing undocumented migrants and communities, such as gender-based violence, racism, exploitative labour, violence, and more, are not given many platforms upon which to speak from and seek justice from. Through the studies of Magalhaes, Carrasco, and Gastaldo, however brief and despite the lack of academia-activism for undocumented migrants in Canada, a platform can hopefully be provided. By documenting the experiences of undocumented migrants in health, services, and labour, one can hopefully gain a better understanding of life circumstances, and hope to provide increasingly relevant advocacy for undocumented migrants.
Keywords: undocumented, unafraid, canada, migrant justice, no one is illegal
Author: DjangoJane
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