Open Collections

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Media and government framing of asylum seekers and migrant workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic Stack, Michelle, 1967-; Wilbur, Amea

Abstract

One understudied area of adult education and lifelong learning is the role of media as educator and policy player. This article describes how the authors used critical discourse analysis to examine how asylum seekers, migrant workers and their advocates have challenged long-standing discursive framings of them as benefactors of Canadian generosity, criminals, burdens or victims – during the first ten months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis points to the difficulties of navigating media engagement to advocate for individuals facing deportation from Canada, while also attempting to challenge the dichotomy of people seen either as worthy of dignity (those who work for low pay and in dangerous conditions to care for Canadians) or as unworthy (those who work on farms or who are not able to work). However, it also reveals the potential for critical lifelong media education to inform the work of adult educators across classroom, labour and social movement contexts to disrupt exclusionary and oppressive media and government narratives.

Item Metadata

Title
Media and government framing of asylum seekers and migrant workers in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic
Creator
Stack, Michelle, 1967-; Wilbur, Amea
Contributor
University of British Columbia. Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
Date Issued
2021-12-05
Description
One understudied area of adult education and lifelong learning is the role of media as educator and policy player. This article describes how the authors used critical discourse analysis to examine how asylum seekers, migrant workers and their advocates have challenged long-standing discursive framings of them as benefactors of Canadian generosity, criminals, burdens or victims – during the first ten months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis points to the difficulties of navigating media engagement to advocate for individuals facing deportation from Canada, while also attempting to challenge the dichotomy of people seen either as worthy of dignity (those who work for low pay and in dangerous conditions to care for Canadians) or as unworthy (those who work on farms or who are not able to work). However, it also reveals the potential for critical lifelong media education to inform the work of adult educators across classroom, labour and social movement contexts to disrupt exclusionary and oppressive media and government narratives.
Subject
Media; Refugees; Asylum seekers; Canada; Social movement education; Critical discourse analysis; Adult education
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Notes
Open access funding provided by the UBC Open Access Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences Research.
Date Available
2023-05-31
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0432774
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/84752
Affiliation
Education, Faculty of; Educational Studies (EDST), Department of; Non UBC
Citation
Stack, Michelle, and Amea Wilbur. "Media and Government Framing of Asylum Seekers and Migrant Workers in Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic." International Review of Education, vol. 67, no. 6, 2021, pp. 895-914.
Publisher DOI
10.1007/s11159-021-09932-8
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution 4.0 International