University Research Chair on Migrant Protection and International Law

Over the past two decades, Canada’s immigration and refugee system has grown more complex, unpredictable, and restrictive. Yet, the country’s glowing global reputation as a gold standard for immigration remains unshaken. But how well do Canada’s current practices truly measure up to its international commitments?

Overview

Canada is frequently portrayed as having one of the world's best immigration and refugee systems and as a model for other countries. However, this conventional narrative obscures substantial contradictions, weaknesses, policy tensions, and dilemmas that migrants and stakeholders navigate daily. The last two decades have seen major changes to Canada's immigration and refugee policies, including more restrictive measures that affect unauthorized arrivals, modified processes for asylum seekers, expanded temporary migration programs with limited protections, increased complexity in pathways to permanent residency, and enhanced removal mechanisms.

Despite these important changes in Canada’s domestic policy, Canada's humanitarian brand remains strong internationally. This disconnect exists partly because: 1) there is limited research critically examining Canada's role in global displacement responses, and 2) the interplay between Canada's international engagement and domestic migration policies remains understudied. This research gap means Canadian practices can be exported without sufficient scrutiny, and domestic policies do not benefit from analysis of how Canada's international commitments translate into national actions.

The Chair on Migrant Protection and International Law aims to bridge these research silos by examining the relationship between Canada's domestic and international actions regarding diverse migrant populations - including temporary workers, international students, non-status migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. The Chair will develop law and policy frameworks aimed at enhancing migrants’ rights and protections through a multidisciplinary and cross-jurisdictional comparative approach, with significant involvement of francophone researchers and bilingual knowledge dissemination.

If you have any questions, or are interested in potential collaboration opportunities, please reach out to Mia Dubus, Chair's Coordinator, at [email protected].

Research Streams

Over the next five years, the Chair will focus on three core streams:

Stream 1: Documenting Policy Evolution and Impact

Analyze changes to Canada's asylum and temporary migration policies over the past two decades and assess their impacts on migrants' trajectories, rights, and protections.

Stream 2: Analyzing International Commitments vs. Domestic Implementation

Examine gaps between Canada's international commitments and domestic practices and develop recommendations to align national policies with international human rights principles.

Stream 3: Conducting Comparative International Analysis

Conduct comparative analysis of temporary migrants' and asylum seekers' legal situations in Canada and similar countries and propose policy recommendations based on international best practices.

Chairholder

Delphine Nakache

Delphine Nakache is a lawyer and Full Professor in the Common Law Section at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. As one of the world’s leading scholars on issues of refugee and migration policy and practice, Professor Nakache has dedicated her career to amplifying the voices of vulnerable populations caught in the large legal framework of statutes, regulations, policies and other legal instruments that crowd international migration systems. By bringing migrants’ life experiences – in their own words – to public policy and practice debates, her research has made a substantial impact on the protection of their fundamental rights. The vast and varied perspectives that make up her expansive research network are crucial to Professor Nakache’s goal of moving beyond traditional assumptions about Canada’s migration and refugee system.

Visit Professor Nakache’s website.