(No) Access T.O.: A Pilot Study on Sanctuary City Policy in Toronto, Canada

Hudson, Graham; Atak, Idil; Manocchi, Michele; Hannan, Charity‐Ann

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2897016

Cited by 23 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…Following a year-long assessment of access to services in Toronto, for example, academics from Ryerson University found that the policy was not working. Th e diffi culty in transforming core institutional values, the lack of training for staff , the multiplicity of actors and agencies involved, and the resistance of law enforcement agencies are named as key obstacles to proper implementation (Hudson et al 2017). Similar problems have also been documented for access to school (F. Villegas 2013, shelters (Bhuyan 2012), healthcare (P. Villegas 2013), and the police (Deshman 2009; Moff ette and Gardner 2015).…”

Section: A Critical Assessment Of Sanctuary Citiesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Sanctuary City Organizing in Canada

Moffette

Ridgley

2018

Migration and Society

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In recent years, migrant justice organizers in Canada have developed campaigns aimed at building, legislating, and enforcing municipal commitments to alleviating and resisting the harms done by federal immigration enforcement, and ensuring migrant access to municipal services. As a result of these efforts, some cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Hamilton, have declared themselves “sanctuary cities,” and campaigns centered around this concept have emerged in other localities across the country. In this article, the authors—who are themselves involved in sanctuary city organizing—reflect on the concept, and offer a critical assessment of these organizing efforts. We provide a brief history of these campaigns in Canada, discuss the impact of these policies in cities where they have been adopted, reflect on the types of politics that inform notions of sanctuary, hospitality, solidarity, and resistance, and offer some lessons for moving forward.

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Section: A Critical Assessment Of Sanctuary Citiesmentioning

confidence: 95%

Sanctuary City Organizing in Canada

Moffette

Ridgley

2018

Migration and Society

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“…legislation, and illustrate how these movements seek to minimize how citizenship status is used as a criterion for accessing social welfare. Yet a growing number of studies and activist‐based press releases have drawn attention to the experiences of refugees and migrants as they navigate Toronto's sanctuary city legislation, and the importance of Toronto as a site of refugee and migrant justice organizing (McDonald ; Bauder , ; Hudson et al ; OCASI ). As some of this critical literature has illustrated, sanctuary cities continue to be unsafe.…”

Section: Internal Borderingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While legislation like Access T.O. has the potential to create urban spaces that enable substantive citizenship, wherein “migrant illegality, while certainly not abolished, is re‐made through the establishment of (porous) city boundaries” (McDonald , 131), the legislation remains a “symbolically ambitious but practically cautious policy” (Hudson et al , 2). Examining contemporary practices of detention and deportation (Maynard ) makes evident the dangers of a symbolic sanctuary city.…”

Section: Internal Borderingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The provocation of Sanctuary Inter/rupted arises in direct response to sanctuary city legislation introduced in Toronto which sought to ensure that all residents can access essential social services without regard to "legal" status by discouraging municipal police and service workers from cooperating with federal immigration authorities (Ridgley 2008 Sanctuary Inter/rupted 87 status is used as a criterion for accessing social welfare. Yet a growing number of studies and activist-based press releases have drawn attention to the experiences of refugees and migrants as they navigate Toronto's sanctuary city legislation, and the importance of Toronto as a site of refugee and migrant justice organizing (McDonald 2012;Bauder 2013Bauder , 2017Hudson et al 2017;OCASI 2017). As some of this critical literature has illustrated, sanctuary cities continue to be unsafe.…”

Section: Internal Borderingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sanctuary Inter/rupted : Borders, illegalization, and unbelonging

Fakhrashrafi

Kirk

Gilbert

2019

Canadian Geographies / Géographies canadiennes

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Key Messages Sanctuary Inter/rupted, a group exhibit by Way Past Kennedy Road, explored issues of internal borders, illegalization, and unbelonging in Toronto. We focus on how artists in the Sanctuary Inter/rupted exhibit unsettled whitewashing logics of belonging and contested the limits of liberal sanctuary city movements. We expand the ways that racial justice is understood and practiced in sanctuary city movement organizing.

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“…Canadian experiences are somewhat similar. In Toronto and Vancouver, service provision remains spotty and uneven (FCJ, 2015; Hudson, Atak, Manocchi and Hannan, 2017), while local police services continue to collect and share status information (NOII, 2015; Aery and Cheff, 2018). Conscious of this fact, non‐status migrants fear interacting with local police (NOII, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rescaling the Sanctuary City: Police and Non‐Status Migrants in Ontario, Canada

Hershkowitz

Hudson

Bauder

2020

International Migration

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Canadian cities pledge to provide access to municipal services to non‐status migrants and withhold information identifying non‐status migrants from federal immigration authorities. Despite these promises, local police continue to cooperate with the Canada Border Services Agency, which raises questions about the capacity of cities to honour their promises. An empirical study involved interviews with high‐ranking police officers in eight local jurisdictions in Ontario about police perceptions regarding their role in the enforcement of federal immigration law and their obligations to honour sanctuary‐city policies. The results show that many police officers believe they possess legal authority to report non‐status migrants to federal authorities. We suggest that this belief rests on misconceptions about the relationship between criminal law and immigration law, claims of jurisdictional immunity from municipal government, and distortions of the principles of policing in Canada. Rescaling of sanctuary policies to the provincial level may offer solutions.

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(No) Access T.O.: A Pilot Study on Sanctuary City Policy in Toronto, Canada

Cited by 23 publications

References 79 publications

Sanctuary City Organizing in Canada

Sanctuary City Organizing in Canada

Sanctuary Inter/rupted : Borders, illegalization, and unbelonging

Rescaling the Sanctuary City: Police and Non‐Status Migrants in Ontario, Canada

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