Lanterna Rally

Author: Andrée Côté

Publisher: Status of Women

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13:

Sponsorship is a procedure that allows people to immigrate to Canada in order to join their families without having to satisfy the usual selection criteria. This report examines the impact of sponsorship on immigrant women using documentary research and qualitative research based on life stories. Part 1 describes that methodology and presents a brief history of immigration & sponsorship policies in Canada. Part 2 presents & discusses life stories revealed in in-depth interviews with 16 Francophone immigrant women in Ontario who were sponsored by their husbands. The stories reveal the magnitude & complexity of the problems they face as immigrant women and how conjugal sponsorship contributes to their disadvantaged status. Part 3 reviews the rights of immigrant women under the current sponsorship regime and the impact of spousal sponsorship on those rights. The final part begins by discussing reforms made in other jurisdictions in order to find promising avenues for reform, then examines recent federal proposals in its January 1999 policy statement on new directions for immigration policy & legislation. Two policy reform options are then considered: improving the current sponsorship regime according to the needs of women sponsored by their husbands; and eliminating mandatory sponsorship in cases of family reunification between spouses. The appendix includes an interview guide.