Canada’s Implementation of the UN Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees: Advancing Foreign Policy Objectives and the Status Quo?

Abstract

Canada has been a strong supporter of the 2018 United Nations Global Compacts (GCs) on Migration and Refugees. This article examines Canada’s reception and implementation of the GCs in the policy domains of refugee resettlement, complementary protection pathways, gender equality, and migration governance capacity building. It draws on the analytical framework of “migration diplomacy” to argue that Canada’s efforts to carry out the GC objectives in these areas are primarily motivated by foreign policy considerations, including those with significant domestic implications, rather than efforts to ensure domestic alignment with the GC principles enhancing migrants’ rights and freedoms. By supporting the GCs, Canada has positioned itself as a global leader in migration management. Migration diplomacy has also legitimised the implementation by Canada of exclusionary refugee policies.