The 2010 arrival of the MV Sun Sea on the BC coast sparked a wave of heated antimigrant sentiment in Canadian popular media which cast the 492 Sri Lankan Tamils on board as 'illegitimate' refugee claimants. While Canada has historically seen itself as the safe haven and protector of human rights for those with 'legitimate' claims, the Sun Sea response reflects a shift in attitudes about refugees and immigration in popular discourse and Canadian public policy. This paper examines the construction of Tamil migrants in online news comments, blog posts and message boards and considers how such media images reinforce and legitimise public and political opinion.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.