1. Session 6: Migration
1) Migration (Chapter 5: 5.3): Where do people
migrate?
2) Migration (Chapter 5: 5.4): How do governments
affect migration?
Fouberg, E. H., Murphy, A. B., De Blij, H. J. and C. J. Nash (2012). Human Geography: People,
Place, and Culture. John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., Mississauga.
February 13, 2015
2. Section 5.3 - Where do people migrate?
In 2010 United Nations estimated that there were approx. 214
million international migrants
Migration Policy Institute: International Migrant Population by
Country of Origin and Destination
http://migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/international-migrant-
population-country-origin-and-destination
3. Between 1846 and 1939 – 59 million people travelled from Europe
to North America, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand.
European “explorers” were the first Europeans to arrive to these
places…
Explorer: A person examining a region that is unknown to them.
Colonization: Physical process whereby the colonizer takes over
another place, putting its own government in charge and either
moving its own people into the place or bringing in indentured
outsiders to gain control of the people and the land.
4. From 1500s to 1800s: European colonized the Americas and the
coasts of Africa and parts of Asia
Starting in the 1800s and into the 1900s: Europeans colonized the
interior of Africa and Asia
5. British Home Children Program
Between 1869 and 1930 – estimated 100,000 impoverished British
children between the ages of 4 and 18 were sent to Canada
Worked as indentured laborers or domestic servants on Canadian
farms until they were adults
Program was developed to help children
escape from urban industrial exploitation
However, abuse, exploitation and
displacement was reported as a result of
the program.
6. British Home Children Program continued…
Children were often told falsely that their parents were dead, or that
great prosperity awaited them in Canada.
Most of the children were from Scotland
Is an example of forced migration
Program shrank in the 1930s due
to the economic hardship brought
by the Great Depression
Officially ended in the 1960s –
apology issued by British Prime
Minister in 2010
7. Regional Migration Flows
Regional scale: Interactions occurring within a region, in a regional
setting.
• short-term economic opportunities
• reconnect with family or culture
• flee political conflict or war
People often move towards islands of development…
Island of development: Place built up by a government or
corporation to attract foreign investment and that has relatively high
concentrations of paying jobs and infrastructure.
• Often coastal cities
8. Reconnection of Cultural Groups within Regions
Example from text (Fouberg et al., 2012): From 1919 to 1948, Great
Britain held control over Palestine, and British encouraged Jews
(whose ancestors had fled more than a thousand years earlier from
the Middle East to Europe) to return to the region.
• 750,000 Jews resided in Palestine in 1948 when the UN
intervened, partitioned the area, and created the independent
state of Isreal
• 600,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were pushed out of Israeli
territories
• Israel’s Law of Return – gives citizenship to Jews around the world
9. Conflict and War
Example: CUBA
In the 1960s, Fidel Castro was in power and Cuba was establishing
the Communist Party of Cuba
The US formalized the Cuban Airlift, which enabled Cubans to
emigrate to the US
Most arrived and settled in the Miami area
Many waves of migration followed and a “wet foot, dry foot” policy
was established – if Cubans reached American territory they were
allowed to stay in the US
10. Regions of Dislocation
Africa
In the early 21st Century sub-Sahara Africa had the most refugees
8 million refugees accounted for by relief agencies – many millions
more are internally displaced
North Africa and Southwest Asia
Area extends from Morocco in the west to Afghanistan in the east
11. Gulf war and more recently the Iraq war have displaced millions of
people – many of these were Kurdish people who fled to Turkey,
Iran, Syria, Jordan, and other neighboring countries.
12. South Asia
Third-ranking in terms of refugee numbers – primarily because of
Pakistan’s taking in of Afghanistan’s forced emigrants
Afghan refugees:
• 1980s: Soviet invasion – 3 million refugees
• 1990s: between 1.2 and 1.5 million refugees
• Today is back up to 3 million
Civil war (demand for an independent Tamil state) in Sri Lanka also a
cause of refugees in South Asia – 200,000 internally displaced
13. Southeast Asia
Between 1 and 2 million people fled Vietnam after the war that
ended in 1975
1990s: Cambodia’s exodus of 300,000 people to Thailand, escaping
years of politically motivated violence
Largest refugee camps in the area are related to natural disasters –
camps are located in Myanmar
• after the 2004 tsunami
• and the 2008 cyclone
14. Refugee settlement of
Cambodians to the USA in the
late 70s
• News clim from 1979:
https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=m6H8d3g
nSws
15. Europe
Collapse of Yugoslavia and related conflicts created the largest
refugee crisis in Europe since the end of WWII
A total of 6,056,600 refugees
1.6 million are still refugees today
Other Regions
The number IDPs in the rest of the world is significantly smaller
Colombia however has a serious IDP problem with ~2 to 3 million
people displaced because of narcotics conflicts
16. Section 5.4 - How do governments affect migration?
Types of policy & actions:
• immigration policy
• policy affecting asylum seekers
• refugee intake policy
• control of resources to IDPs
• the creation of actual physical barriers (walls)
• border patrols
• etc.
17. Post-September 11 (2001)
Policy around the world changed after Sept 11th
In the US, prior to Sept 11th the US was mostly concerned with
cross-border drug and human trafficking
After Sept 11th, the Bush administration cracked down on asylum
seekers
• 33 countries were marked as having potential al-Qaeda
operations
• people from these countries were automatically detained if
they entered the US seeking asylum
• illegal immigrants also can be detained
18. Managing and Controlling Borders
Has become increasingly difficult to cross borders
Usually the entry process is more stringent than the exit process
(however there are exceptions such as with the surrendering of
passports by migrant workers)
Canada’s migrant workers are managed through the Temporary
Foreign Workers Program (TFWP)
• has allowed the migrant worker population in Canada to
increase
• has also come under scrutiny from labor and human rights
groups (calls for better working conditions and potential to
apply for permanent residency)
19. The Brain Drain
Refers to the emigration of doctors, scientists, engineers, and other
trained professionals once their training is complete
Publicly funded institutions (universities, colleges, etc.) lose out on
their “investment”
Governments struggle to come up with strategies to keep people in
their regions (not just national, also provincial)
e.g. Manitoba has a tax incentive scheme for students who stay in
the province once their education is complete
20. Waves of Migration in Canada
The first wave of Europeans thought to set foot in Canada were the
Norse seafarers
Portuguese and Basque fishermen and sailors arrived around the
coasts around the 1400s and 1500s
The French came inland in the 1500s
1604 a permanent settlement of French were settled
The British established their control over the colonies throughout
the 1700s
…continue reading history of settlement and colonization on page
150
21. Until the Immigration Act of 1967, Europeans remained the
“preferred nationality” for immigrants
• developed a two stream system: 1) those who could be
sponsored by family members; 2) those who would be
assessed on a points system (based on education and other
qualifications)
• consideration for people considered to be refugees
Shifted Canada’s demographic compositions considerably over the
next 40 years
• Before 1961: 90% of immigrants came from Europe
• By 2001: declined to less than 20%
22. Immigration from Asia increased from 3% to 58%
Current Canadian immigration policy assesses according to 3 classes:
• family class immigrants (family already here)
• economic class immigrants
• refugees
Quotas: Established limits by governments on the number of
immigrants who can enter a country each year.
Immigrants are important for maintaining / increasing Canada’s rate of
natural increase
23. Chinese migration to Canada
First came to Canada around the time of the Fraser River gold rush
Building of the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1870s caused a
massive influx of Chinese immigrants who were laborers
After the building of the
railway a “head tax” was
imposed by the government
to try to stifle Chinese
immigration
24. Chinese migration to Canada continued…
Chinese Exclusion Act, 1923 – banned the immigration of Chinese
until 1947
When the policy changed, Chinese immigration increased
significantly
In 2006, the Prime Minister
issued an official apology
for the injustices of the
“head tax” and offered
compensation to the families
25. Mulitculturalism as Government Policy in Canada
Multiculturalism: “the belief that different ethnic or cultural groups
have the right to remain distinct rather than assimilating into
‘mainstream’ norms” (Source: Dictionary of Human Geography)
3 demographic stages to Canadian multiculturalism:
1) Increase of ethno-cultural diversity
2) Policy shift from the report from the Royal Commission on
Bilingualism and Biculturalism, 1963
3) Structural mulitculturalism through the Multiculturalism Act of
1988
26. Course review role play
Scenario: Blue Sun Farms would like to establish a processing and
packaging factory for their latest product – a ready made health
shake. They would like to build the factory close to the farm that is
already in operation in Southern Manitoba. They would like to hire
migrant workers for both the factory operations and the increased
farm production.
Teams (3 people per team):
• Blue Sun Farms
• Federal Department of Immigration – currently supportive of
bringing in migrant workers
• The Regional Municipality
• NGO concerned with issues such as globalization and
migrant workers
27. Get together with your team to plan a 5-7 minute presentation to
the Manitoba Development Chair.
You will have 30 minutes of prep time with your team. During this
time you can research, make exhibits (graphs etc.) to present, and
develop your case.
You will then have 10 minutes to meet with the other team that is
aligned with your interests. During this time you can figure out how
you can corroborate your cases.
Order of presenters: 1) Blue Sun Farms; 2) The Regional
Municipality; 3) The Federal Department of Immigration; 4) NGO
All presentations will occur without interruption.
Afterwards, each team will have 2 minutes to rebuttal.
