Research Interests

I conduct research on migration as a form of contemporary globalization. At the broadest scale, this includes an interest on how migration is controlled by nation states through policy and regulatory systems, and also how people become mobile, with or without the consent of states. I try to understand Canadian immigration policy within this wider context, and consider it in relation to the policies of other countries, especially in Europe and Australasia. At the local scale I study the consequences of immigration in Canadian cities, highlighting Vancouver’s situation (over 830,000 foreign-born in a population of 2.1 million people). More specifically, I look at the integration of newcomers in the labour and housing markets of cities, and how this changes their residential structure and social relations.

Much of this work is done as part of the Metropolis Project, a network of research centres across Canada and internationally.