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Canadian Public Discourse around Issues of Inadmissibility for Potential Immigrants with Diseases and/or Disabilities 1902-2002 Valentina Capurri A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in History York University Toronto, Ontario January 2010 Library and Archives Biblioth&que et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'6dition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre r&f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-64897-1 Our We Notre inference ISBN: 978-0-494-64897-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada iv Abstract This study focuses on the history of public discourse around Canadian immigration policy with respect to immigrant applicants with diseases or disabilities deemed as inadmissible in light of the fact they might constitute an excessive cost for Canadian health and social services. It looks at the ways the public discourse entertained by elected politicians, two exponents of the press - the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail - and the judicial system has evolved, mainly in form rather than content, as to systematically prevent foreigners with a disease or disability from entering Canada as permanent residents and later on, citizens of the country. Sources utilized in the study include parliamentary debates as well as interventions by politicians, newspaper articles, letters and editorials, and relevant court cases. The period of time covered in the analysis begins in 1902, when the Canadian medical inspection service was created as a control mechanism to prevent the entrance of undesirable foreign elements. It concludes in 2002, when the current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was passed under the Liberal government of Jean Chretien. Since 2002, no significant change has been registered in the existing policy of medical admissibility. In its analysis, the study provides a major contribution to the existing literature and poses new and innovative questions on how immigration and disability have been constructed in the country: to what extent can immigrants and disabled persons belong? What are the requirements for citizenship? Why some are deemed 'more' citizens than others? It also investigates the role of politicians, the courts and some exponents of civil society (here the term civil society refers to social structures other than and in between the household and the state - for instance, different interest groups, associations, organizations and the like) in formulating a public discourse that validated this construction. The following pages demonstrate that there has been a system in place in Canada since the 1860s that has shown incredible longevity and resistance and that has been predicated on the belief that individuals are worthy only insofar as productive and useful to the material growth of the country. V Acknowledgments This work has been made possible by the help and support of a number of persons to whom I am extremely grateful and forever indebted. First of all, my thanks go to Patricia Wood, my supervisor, who has constantly provided me with advice and direction throughout the gestation and writing of the study. Also of great value were for me the suggestions and comments offered by William Jenkins and Marcel Martel, members of the advisory committee. Thanks to Sonia Lawrence for helping me find relevant court cases and for her advice in the early stages of the writing process. Thanks to Lui Temelkovski, MP for Oak Ridges-Markham from 2004 to 2008, for providing me with a better understanding of some of the intricacies of the Canadian political system. Thanks to Sarah Jordison, OPSEU Campaigns Officer, for sending much needed data and information. I am also grateful to Engin Isin, who has been a guide and a professional model for the last eight years and who taught me the importance of the concept of citizenship and the value of academic research. Finally, thanks to my partner, Oliver Kennedy, who has supported me along the way and who is my reason for being here in Canada. vi Table of Contents Abstract iv Acknowledgments v Introduction: the personal and the political 1 Chapter 1. The 'right' kind of citizen 27 Chapter 2. Parliament's discussions around medically inadmissible immigrants 79 Chapter 3. Medically inadmissible immigrants: Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, 1902-1985 168 Chapter 4. Medically inadmissible immigrants: Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, 1985-2002 253 Chapter 5. The medical inadmissibility provision in the Federal and Supreme Courts of Canada 302 Conclusion: where are we now and what lies ahead? 349 Appendix 380 Bibliography 388 1 "Penser 1'immigration, c'est penser 1'Etat" Abdelmalek Sayad (1999, p.396) Introduction: the personal and the political In the Introduction to his work Understanding Disability, Michael Oliver argues that "personal experience does have a direct, if complex, influence both on what gets written and the way it gets written."1 In agreement with this statement, I believe it is important to explain how I have come to write this study and why I have written it the way I have. Everything discussed in the pages that follow comes from a particular perspective, that of a person with multiple sclerosis who has been directly affected by the provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that considers inadmissible to Canada those immigrants with physical or mental disabilities expected to cause excessive demands on health and social services. I do not assume that my perspective corresponds to the 'Truth', and I actually believe that different people will look at the issue with different eyes and probably reach dissimilar conclusions. Nevertheless, I have tried to be as fair as possible in my analysis without hiding behind false claims of objectivity. The meaning of history has traditionally been made by those in power and what we know is what has been allowed to reach us. This study is my personal attempt to bring forward a different interpretation of history. It does not pretend to be the only 'Truth', but neither is the one 1 Michael Oliver, Understanding Disability (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996) 5. 2 we have always accepted as such. History is a complicated and continuous clash of opposing interests and perspectives that are never exclusive: to assume so would seriously limit our understanding of what occurred and why it occurred. At the same time, bringing the personal in does not imply that the whole study is based on the assumption that only people with disabilities can understand the meaning and feelings associated with having a disability and the consequent oppression that comes with it. In her paper " 'Race' and sexuality: challenging the patriarchal structuring of urban social space," Linda Peake explains that the belief that only black women can conduct research on black women or that only lesbian women can address the experiences of lesbian women is self-destructive. Peake argues that one's identity should not be the primary determinant of her suitability to engage with a particular issue. Such an attitude results in the tendency of "pitting category against category" and "removes from consideration the many successful research projects entered into jointly by black and white feminists."2 The same argument applies to the field of disability studies. The conceivable assumption that only scholars with disabilities can do research about disability oppression would create an unnecessary divide between those who have experienced that oppression and those who have not. It would also invalidate the perspective of non-disabled people and reproduce the old opposition between 'us' and 'them'. On the other hand, it is flawed to assume that scholarly research can be objective and detached from the investigator's preconceived notions. We all have our own biases and 2 Linda Peake, "'Race' and sexuality: challenging the patriarchal structuring of urban social space," Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, Vol.11 (1993) 420. 3 they get inevitably reflected in our work. As Peake remarks, "choices about what to study and how to study are politically laden."3 This in turn entails that our lived experiences and beliefs influence, either consciously or sub-consciously, our work. Claiming objectivity in the way research is conducted is simply a cover-up that misguides the reader and denies our individuality.

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