Enforced Government of the Self: Forced Dependence and Experiences of Sponsored Older Chinese Immigrants in Canada

Abstract

Globalization and global competition have rendered Canada’s immigration regime and governance increasingly susceptible to market forces. Additionally, the pressure of an aging society in Canada has contributed to a significant reduction in the admission of family-class immigrants, especially older people, and in 2014, the federal government tightened and dramatically revised its parent/grandparent (PGP) immigration program by raising income requirements for sponsors, extending the period of sponsorship by offspring, and imposing an annual quota of applications. Scant literature has explored how the PGP program and its policy alteration affects the later life and well-being of sponsored older immigrants in Canada. Mainly through in-depth semi-structured interviews with sponsored Chinese parents, their offspring and social workers and qualitative analysis of documents, my PhD research explores the experience of sponsored PGPs in Canada; examines the state’s positioning of sponsored older immigrants, especially those from the global South, through a lens of governmentality; and analyses the workings and effects of neoliberal governance through immigration policy in Canada and its implications. Drawing on and contributing to the literature on governmentality and racism in migration, especially by engaging with notions of “government of the self,” neoliberalism, biopolitical citizenship, and racism and racialization, I construct my conceptual framework by examining the embedded tensions and contradictions in contemporary governance, which I term “neoliberal frictions.” I discuss three forms or levels of neoliberal friction and their manifestations and ramifications in the experience of sponsored Chinese PGPs. Additionally, taking on the insights of Anna Tsing (2004), I conceive of friction as not only consisting of contradictions, tensions, inequality, and injustice, but also as engendering a location and process of struggle that generates actions, changes, new knowledge, new social and political orders, and new forms of justice. Thus, I explore and discuss not only the challenges and difficulties of later-life immigration, but also how sponsored Chinese PGPs develop various strategies to handle challenges, adapt to new environments, resist dependence imposed by the PGP program, and pursue an independent and meaningful existence with dignity. Hence my approach, built on the concept of neoliberal friction, is consistent with the notion of assemblage (Wiertz, 2020), which accounts not only for situations where life is subordinated to systemic power but also for instances that fracture and challenge this power (p. 5). I prioritize the agency and experience of sponsored PGPs, highlight their struggles, perspectives, and concerns, and underscore moments of dissonance, agency, and resistance. My findings debunk the misconception and stigmatized portrayal of older immigrants as welfare seekers and reveal that their contributions are ignored and exploited by neoliberal governance in Canada. My study shows that Canada’s immigration regime, though becoming more implicit and subtler, remains structurally raced, classed, and gendered and interplays with dynamics such as ableism, ageism, ethnocentrism, otherness, and worthiness within the state’s power relations. My study reveals a new governance apparatus – dependent biopolitics – that targets sponsored older immigrants, enables the state to download its collective responsibility onto immigrant families, and justifies its othering and discriminatory practices in the name of facilitating family reunification. My study reveals that intergenerational relations and housing arrangements are the two key factors that affect sponsored PGPs’ satisfaction with life and well-being. It shows that sponsored Chinese PGPs need a mindset or desire for and the ability to realize independence, rather than relying on their offspring, if they are to age well and develop a satisfying life in Canada. My findings reveal that forced dependence by the undertaking/dependence clause of the PGP program, deepens the gap between their desired independence and actual independence. This research demonstrates that the PGP program, as a tool of government, cannot grant sponsored Chinese PGPs entrepreneurial spirit and facilitate their self-reliance, but instead tends to add hardship to their lives and engender social problems such as isolation, senior mistreatment and neglect, physical and mental problems, poverty, and precarious living conditions, which may use up more social resources and public funds. Accordingly, this thesis recommends a more sustainable PGP program and more supportive settlement policies and services for sponsored older immigrants. My study contributes conceptually and empirically to governmentality perspectives on the study of immigration policy and the governance of older immigrant populations. It does this by developing an assemblage approach: on the one hand, it shows that neoliberal frictions are embedded in the state’s governance systems and its practices, which cannot foster life for sponsored older Chinese immigrants and can even undermine their quality of life and well-being; on the other hand, it demonstrates how sponsored PGPs can, by performing agency, forming small, informal groups, and engaging with and helping to build community, conduct self-government and resist dependence imposed on them by the PGP program.