Safe Country of Origin: Constructing the Irregularity of Asylum Seekers in Canada
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12450 |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| Author | Idil Atak |
Safe Country of Origin: Constructing the
Irregularity of Asylum Seekers in Canada
Idil Atak*
ABSTRACT
This article discusses the role of Canada’s Designated Country of Origin (DCO) policy in the
illegalization of asylum seekers. The policy allows the government to designate countries in
which it is presumed that citizens do not face risks of persecution, torture, or similar abuse.
Refugee claimants from DCOs are thus subject to accelerated processing timelines with
reduced rights. Canada has implemented the policy as a way to deal with a backlog of asylum
applications, increase efficiency, and exclude fraudulent refugee claims. Based on a primary
field research conducted between October 2015 and May 2017 in three provinces, Quebec,
Ontario, and British Columbia, this article argues that the DCO policy is likely to have the
unintended effect of shifting asylum seekers into an irregular status.
INTRODUCTION
Irregular migration has been a major political concern for countries in the global North, which con-
sider it a threat to sovereignty, public welfare, and national security, as well as to the integrity of
their immigration and refugee systems. Irregular migrants are non-nationals who enter, reside in, or
work in a country without that country’s legal permission (Vollmer, 2011; Hudson et al., 2017).
The phenomenon has been attributed to migrants’individual choices and opportunities; this notion
of human agency, however, is constrained by overarching legal, social, economic, political, and
environmental factors. As noted by Portes, the causes of irregular migration are related to “struc-
tural determinants in both sending and receiving countries”(1978: 477). In addition to the pull and
push factors in these countries, “various determinants in-between such as networks and smugglers”
also play a role (Triandafyllidou & Ambrosini, 2011: 272). States then provide the legal tools to
define legal and illegal migration (D€
uvell, 2011). The term ‘illegalization of migrants’draws atten-
tion to these factors that contribute to the migrants’“illegality”(Bauder, 2013).
Laws and policies play a major role in the illegalization of asylum seekers, i.e., persons who seek
safety from persecution or serious harm in a country other than their own, and await a decision on
the application for refugee status under relevant international and national instruments (Castles,
2004; Dauvergne, 2008; Koser, 2009; IOM, 2010). Canada, like other states signatory to the 1951
Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention), has an obligation to provide
asylum seekers access to its refugee status determination system without discrimination. Since the
1980s, however, asylum policies have increasingly become restrictive and the criteria for granting
refugee status has been tightened (Rehaag and Grant, 2015; CARL, 2016; Olsen et al., 2016).
This article focuses on Canada’s Designated Country of Origin (DCO) policy, which was mod-
eled on the Safe Country of Origin (SCO) schemes implemented in Europe since the 1990s.
*Ryerson University, Toronto
doi: 10.1111/imig.12450
©2018 The Author
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 56 (6) 2018
ISS N 00 20- 7985 Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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