Description

A webinar of this event will be available shortly before the panel begins. 
Immigration to Canada has progressively changed the religious composition of the country, and stimulated a number of heated policy debates around questions of citizenship and belonging. Religious groups have also long been some of the most vocal advocates for family migration and refugee resettlement. At the same time, narratives of displacement, welcome, and belonging have largely ignored the experience and opinions of Indigenous populations.
This discussion will examine how religion and shaped migration and vice versa: How have faith groups influenced immigration patterns and policy? How is immigration changing religion in a secular Canadian society? And what do Indigenous experiences of displacement tell us about popular narratives of welcome?
Shachi Kurl:
“Migration’s Impact on Secularism in Canada” 
Geoffrey Cameron:
“Religion and the course of private refugee sponsorship in Canada”
Sadia Rafiquddan:
“Words Matter: Reframing the narrative of refugees, Indigenous peoples and Muslims in Canada” 
Discussant: Michael Donnelly, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto
Shachi Kurl is Executive Director of the Angus Reid Institute. She is a frequent guest on CBC’s “At Issue,” Canada’s most-watched political panel, and her analysis has been published in The Globe and Mail, the National Post, and other influential forums.
Geoffrey Cameron (MPhil, PhD) is Director of Public Affairs for the Baha’i Community of Canada, a Research Associate with the Global Migration Lab, and he teaches at McMaster University. He is co-editing a forthcoming volume, “Private Refugee Sponsorship: Concepts, Cases, and Consequences”.
Born in Sargodha, Pakistan, Sadia Rafiquddin draws inspiration from her parents’ move to Canada as refugees in 1990. She is a freelance writer, broadcaster and photographer focusing on human rights stories for CBC, Ferst Digital Inc., Philanthropic Foundations Canada, Hacking Health and Apathy is Boring among others. Her radio documentary Engaged at 14:“I was worried about science class. And now I am getting married?” for CBC’s The Doc Project, was awarded two silver prizes at the New York Festival’s World’s Best Radio Programs in 2018.