Canada's Migrants without History: Neoliberal Immigration Regimes and Trinidadian Transnationalism

Canada’s Migrants without History:Neoliberal Immigration Regimes and

Trinidadian Transnationalism

Belinda Leach*

ABSTRACT

Temporary migration programmes have re-emerged as a preferred mechanism for regulatinglabour migration in many migrant-receiving countries in the past decade. In this paper, Iconsider the role of shifting Canadian immigration policies, notably the expanded streamsfor temporary workers, in the changing flow of migrants from Trinidad to Canada. Tempo-rary programmes can bring workers to Canada relatively quickly, but they limit access topermanent residency and citizenship, in sharp contrast to most of Canada’s earlier immigra-tion policies. Ethnographic fieldwork reveals that Trinidadians actively seeking to make themove to Canada have little interest in new temporary work programmes. Rather, they con-tinue to plan futures in Canada that they expect to be years in the making. I consider somereasons for this apparent refusal to submit to the new migration realities. I show that pres-ent-day Trinidadian emigrant desires and practices are deeply connected to individual, famil-ial and national emigration and immigration histories. Trinidadians are declining toparticipate in new immigration regimes and are restricting their migration practices to thoseforms that are historically familiar and have been proven successful. I attempt to show howethnographic approaches that take seriously migrants’ agency can assist in developing a ful-ler understanding of the ways in which migration flows are changing. These approachesreveal what are otherwise the silences and invisibility surrounding those whose previousaccess to permanent migration streams has been diminished through neoliberal restructuringof migration policy. I argue that temporary worker policies disregard long-standing historiesof migration and engagement with capitalist processes for people in particular regions ofthe world, rendering them, for policy purposes, effectively “people without history” (Wolf,1982).

INTRODUCTION

Temporary migration programmes have re-emerged as a preferred mechanism for regulating labourmigration in the past decade. In the 1980s and 1990s, their negative and often unanticipated conse-quences in countries such as the United States (USA) and Germany led most liberal democracies toshy away from them (Ruhs, 2005: 1). Now, as labour market demands fluctuate with the vagariesof the global economy, they are either under consideration or actively employed once again inseveral European countries, the USA and Canada.

* College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph.

doi: 10.1111/imig.12019

© 2013 The AuthorInternational Migration © 2013 IOM Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.,International Migration Vol. 51 (2) 2013 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK,ISSN 0020-7985 and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

This paper emerges from a comparative ethnographic study of migration from the Philippines andTrinidad to Canada. Both countries ranked in the top ten immigrant-sending countries in 1973(Canada, 1974), following the expansion of immigration programmes beyond earlier mainly Europeansources. While the Philippines has remained a major source of migrants, Trinidad and Tobago hadfallen to 36th position in 1999 and to 49th in 2008 (CIC, 2009). Our study considers the role of shiftingCanadian immigration policies in this divergence. Most notable are expanded streams for temporaryworkers that are consistent with neoliberal policy shifts taking place internationally. Temporary foreignworker programmes are part of ongoing modifications to allow maximum flexibility for immediatelabour needs. These programmes can bring workers to Canada quickly, but they limit access to perma-nent residency and citizenship, in sharp contrast to most of Canada’s earlier immigration policies.We have asked in what ways potential migrants mould themselves to fit better the new pro-

grammes being promoted by the Canadian state. Ethnographic fieldwork in Trinidad turned that ori-ginal question on its head. In contrast to Philippine migrants (Barber, 2008), my research revealsthat Trinidadians actively seeking to move to Canada have little knowledge or interest in new tem-porary work programmes. Rather, they continue to plan futures in Canada that they expect to beyears in the making. Immigration statistics support this finding. In 2009, there were 1,197 entriesof men on temporary permits from Trinidad (population 1.3 million), approximately 1,000 of theseunder the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP). Comparatively, there were 14,484 tem-porary entries of men from the Philippines (population 90 million), and 7,044 from Jamaica (popu-lation 2.6 million), including about 6,000 temporary agricultural workers (CIC, 2010).In this paper, I consider reasons for this apparent refusal of potential migrants from Trinidad to

submit to the new migration realities. Drawing on ethnographic materials that include interviewsand observations as well as historical and archival research, I attempt to show that present-day emi-grant desires and practices are deeply connected to individual, familial and national emigration andimmigration histories. Particular to Trinidad and Tobago is a long history of participation in olderCanadian temporary migration programmes for agricultural workers (from the early 1960s) anddomestic workers (from the mid-1950s), operating alongside a flow of permanent immigrants toCanada. I argue that because of these historical flows to Canada, and in contrast to many otherpotential migrants, Trinidadians are declining to participate in new subordinating immigrationregimes. As far as they can, they are restricting their migration practices to historically familiarforms that have proven successful. Extending my ethnographic and historical approach to classissues in migration (Leach, 2008), I consider here how past practices and ideas about emigrationfrom Trinidad to Canada intersect with shifts in Canadian immigration policies.Expanded temporary migrant worker programmes are reshaping migrant flows and reveal shifts

in labour sources from one country to another. However, much analysis remains at a macro-socio-logical scale. As yet, there is little understanding of the practices and processes within migrantflows that contribute to shaping these changes. I attempt to show how ethnographic approaches thattake seriously migrants’ agency can assist a fuller understanding of how migration flows are chang-ing. These reveal what are otherwise silences and invisibility surrounding those whose access topermanent migration streams has been diminished through neoliberal migration policy restructuring.I argue that new temporary worker policies disregard peoples’ long-standing regional histories ofmigration and engagement with global capitalist processes, rendering them effectively “people with-out history” (Wolf, 1982). They and their histories are made invisible and silenced by state policiesoperating within global fields of power.In what follows, I cover some theoretical terrain in anthropology that understands migration pro-

cesses as collective and individual practices situated within fields of global power. I examine therole of different migration streams defined through policy, and connect these to elements ofCanada’s recent immigration policy. I then discuss historical connections between Canada andTrinidad that help shape migration flows, and present individual stories of Trinidadians’ hopes andaspirations for migration to Canada.

Canada’s migrants without history 33

© 2013 The Author. International Migration © 2013 IOM

ETHNOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND MIGRATION STUDIES

Mass migrations are regionally specific, as social labour is mobilized to provide “new laborers”(Wolf, 1982: 354) for capitalist expansion. The capitalist system continuously mobilizes labour andthen displaces it, either with other kinds of labour or technology. Two migrations have shaped theCaribbean region and its relationship to the capitalist system. Slavery and indentureship from theseventeenth to the nineteenth centuries brought workers from Africa and India to work on planta-tions. In the twentieth century, new migrations pushed and pulled workers to the United Kingdom(UK), the USA and Canada (Foner, 2001). What is important here is not simply capitalism’srequirement for particular forms of labour, but the “differentiated histories of engagement with cap-italist expansion” (Schneider, 1995: 27). These histories produce regional identifications and racial-ized labels through which to insulate more privileged workers “from competition from below”(Wolf, 1982: 381). Histories of engagement result in distinctive social and cultural forms, whatMassey et al. term “cultures of migration” (1993: 449) that are a well-established phenomenon inmost of the Caribbean. These operate within the same fields of global power as the migration poli-cies put in place by states such as Canada. As these policies change, they disrupt the humanarrangements that people have put in place through their histories of engagement.Anthropology’s early attention to migration included observation of rural to urban flows as post–

Second World War industrialization created new work opportunities (Foner, 2003: 10). Much ofthis research considered the role of world markets and their regulation by states in shaping migra-tion patterns (Brettell, 2008: 119), recognizing the significance of labour market and associated pol-icies in the migration acts of individuals and households. Embedded within communities butcognizant of global political and economic shifts, ethnographers noted the articulation of globalprocesses and local practices, situating migrants’ acts within broader structures of policy, politicsand economy. Nina Glick Schiller argues that many scholars in migration studies have been slowto put all these pieces together: “Some of the roles that migrants play as agents of global restructur-ing are described in the transnational migration literature but are not sufficiently analyzed withinbroader processes of capital development and destruction” (2009: 22).Stephen Castles attributes to anthropology a critical insight for understanding migration pro-

cesses. Migrants, he notes, “seek to achieve better outcomes for themselves, their families and theircommunities through actively shaping the migratory process. Migratory movements, once started,become self-sustaining social processes” (Castles, 2004: 209–210). A key contribution of ethnogra-phy to migration studies is to examine policy from the perspective of the migrant (Brettell, 2008:116), taking seriously migrants’ collective and individual agency.How social relations are forged, what they mean and how they contribute to shaping societal pro-

cesses are central questions of ethnography. Households and networks of kin and non-kin mobilizeresources that are central to the practices and decision-making of migrants (Grasmuck and Pessar,1991). The active maintenance of networks across transnational space leads to circular and chainmigration patterns (Basch et al., 1994; Rouse, 1992). For Caribbean migrations, these processes arewell established, incorporating the USA, the UK and Canada, as well as neighbouring islands(Olwig, 2007; Leach, 2012). Women are important actors in these processes, as wage earners andmanagers of transnational households in sending and receiving locales, often caring for the childrenof other women working outside the home, sometimes in another country (Pessar and Mahler,2003). Caribbean women’s social and economic role in women-centred households and networks athome takes on new significance when stretched to incorporate household members living overseas.Caribbean women were often the lead migrant when they migrated to the USA and Canada for par-ticular jobs. As Massey et al. (1993) note, migration networks make each subsequent migration acteasier. The specific ways in which people choose to participate in migration processes rest to alarge extent on the experiences of those who went ahead. Attention to the social relations

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underlying transnational migrant networks permits a better understanding of articulations betweensending and receiving states.

THE TRANSNATIONAL PRACTICES OF STATES, CAPITAL AND COMMUNITIES

Attention to the micro level reveals how migration flows are differentiated by gender, class, ethnic-ity and stage in the life cycle, among others. Each of these intersects with the form that migrationtakes, for example whether it is permanent or temporary, sponsored or independent. In the past, therange of forms has been relatively narrow. Immigrant-receiving countries such as Canada intendedmost immigration to be for permanent settlement, with small programmes for temporary workers tofill particular occupational needs. When achieving permanent residency status was relatively pre-dictable for most migrants, the form that migration took was less significant than today. As tempo-rary worker programmes proliferate, the form of migration becomes a very significant way inwhich migration flows are differentiated, with profound consequences for the capacity of individualmigrants to transform their status to permanent resident. Goldring et al. analyse how contemporaryCanadian migration policies, including temporary programmes, routinely generate pathways to “pre-carious” migratory status and contribute to numerous gradations of migrant status with equally dif-ferentiated rights and entitlements. Under current policy conditions, routes to precarious statusinclude some “legal” migration paths (Goldring et al., 2009: 240).It is interesting to think about types of migrant path within a nation-to-nation flow because doing

so shows the wide range of strategies – permanent, temporary and return – that people in one coun-try engage in depending on their social location, as well as policy and economic conditions. ForTrinidad, when these strategies are taken together, and as they have shifted over time, they contrib-ute to the local culture of migration. In the current context with temporary migrant programmesascendant, the multiple forms of Trinidadian transnationalism provide a window on the socialimplications of shifting migration regimes.Labour migration flows are shaped through the individual and collective agency of migrants,

their families and communities, and through the actions and operations of capital and the states thatfacilitate the sourcing of labour for capital. While, at specific historical moments, immigration maybe driven by demographic or political objectives, migration streams are shaped largely by capitalistdevelopment and its imperatives. Through policy, receiving states turn labour requirements into arange of possible migration routes: permanent migration for skilled and other workers whose labouris in high demand; accompanying or joining family members for flexible, unskilled workers, andfor generating more valuable labour through reproduction. In the past, temporary migration wasdesigned for specific, narrowly defined labour niches, unskilled or skilled. In Canada, the largestprogrammes brought “farmhands” and female domestic servants, and since 1973 a small number ofhighly skilled short-term migrants. Undocumented migrants provide a pool of vulnerable, and thusexploitable, workers. And while foreign students were not explicitly intended to fill labour marketneeds, in Canada and elsewhere students are now permitted to work during their academic pro-grammes, providing a further pool of flexible, low-paid labour. Each of these streams carries withit expectations and practices with regard to gender, class and racialization that result in the particu-lar shape that the migrant labour force takes. For example, in Canada in the early 2000s womenrepresented 60 per cent of principal applicants in the family class, but only 29 per cent of principalapplicants in the economic class (Boyd, 2006: 3).It is not sufficient for states simply to turn capital’s labour requirements into streams within

immigration policy. They must also calculate domestic concerns about the social, political andfinancial costs of social assistance to migrants, security threats and so on. These combine withshifting capital needs to bring about changes in immigration policy. New temporary migration



programmes in Canada are consistent with broad public policy transformations now hegemonic inneoliberal states, building on principles of enhanced flexibility, reduced government spending andlimited state involvement in market processes, as well as increasing self-reliance for individualsand families (Cossman and Fudge, 2002). Abella (2006) argues that temporary migrant worker pro-grammes provide three advantages to states. They permit labour market flexibility to address theglobal economy’s unpredictability; they are perceived as more politically acceptable to electorateswith concerns about burgeoning immigrant populations; and where immigrant settlement in the pasthas been difficult, temporary programmes help to avoid further problems.The temporary programmes expanding in Canada are in sharp contrast to earlier large-scale immi-

gration programmes, which aside from the SAWP have provided a pathway to permanent settlement.Even the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) eventually incorporated provisions for permanent resi-dency, making it a positive example internationally (Human Rights Center, 2003: 16–18) andproviding Third World women with an important migration pathway that does not involve men assponsors (Stasiulis and Bakan, 2005: 51). In the past, exceptional permits could be issued for tempo-rary workers to fill urgent labour market demands. With little public debate, this has expanded into afull-scale programme. The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP)1 allows employers to seekpermission to hire overseas for “occupations under pressure” in particular local labour markets.Much of the critique and analysis of these shifts has come from those whose starting point has beenthe LCP or SAWP (see Bakan and Stasiulis, 1997; Basok, 2002; Fudge and McPhail, 2009; Henne-bry and Preibisch, 2010; Preibisch, 2004; Sharma, 2001). Analysts variously note that in contrast toearlier programmes where the state set targets and assessed labour market needs, this programme islargely employer driven. Designated occupations and employer demands change rapidly, and theprogramme can be flexible and more responsive to immediate needs than permanent immigrationprocesses. Foreign workers have opportunities to fill higher-skilled positions for up to 2 years, andwith a job to go to can get to Canada quickly. This contrasts with the “point system” that left quali-fied migrants to find a job on their own, often in a very discriminatory labour market (Henry, 1994).In 2008, 192,000 workers entered Canada through the TFWP, while about 247,000 entered as

permanent residents (CIC, 2009). Potential migrants may still apply for permanent status, a processthat takes years to resolve. Under the TFWP applicants can take up positions in approximately6 months. While the number destined for permanent residence has remained stable over many yearsat about 250,000, the proportion of temporary migrants has grown tremendously. Hovering at 30per cent for most of a decade, temporary workers represented almost 40 per cent of those enteringin 2008 (CIC, 2009). For some highly skilled temporary migrants, there is a facilitated process forpermanent settlement. There are also provincial programmes for skilled workers that offer arelatively speedy route to permanent residency.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: GEOPOLITICS AND LINKS TO CANADA

While policies play their part, these flows are also shaped by histories between particular nations andby the actions of migrants themselves. Capital’s labour demands in Trinidad and in Canada have com-bined with Canadian immigration policies and its shifts to create distinct migration routes for Trinida-dians to enter Canada. An ethnography of Trinidad-to-Canada migration then incorporates these routesthat link to a range of forms of labour for Trinidadians in Canada and contribute to a local culture ofmigration in Trinidad. This approach requires attention to the multifaceted, sustained connectionsbetween nation-states that shape the global fields of power in which potential migrants make decisions.Trinidad is just a few miles from the coast of Venezuela, a position that has shaped its history

and contemporary position in the world and for which it was colonized by Spanish, Dutch, Frenchand finally British powers. Populated by indigenous people, then large numbers of African slavesand indentured workers from India, all of these have influenced the development of what Khan

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(2004: 8) calls a “callaloo nation”, referring to the Trinidadian stew of many ingredients – a meta-phor for the mutually beneficial and transforming elements of cultural, religious and racial diversity.Since the mid-twentieth century, the economy has been dominated by the valuable oil and gasindustries, making Trinidad well off in relation to its island neighbours. The UNDP (2008) reportsthat these industries constitute 37 per cent of GDP, 60 per cent of export commodities and 37 percent of government revenues. As a result, only Tobago has a significant tourism industry. Yetdespite oil wealth, about 17 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line (CIA, 2007)and a large number are under-employed. The convergence of locational and economic factors hasresulted in serious threats to human security through violent crime.2

As a preferred destination for Trinidadian migrants, Canada’s shifting immigration policy hasconsequences for Trinidadians’ migration decisions. Part of the calculus involves the deep andlong-standing historical links between Canada and Trinidad. A full-time Canadian trade commissionwas established in Port of Spain in 1938. Canadian banks have had a presence in Trinidad since1889 (Plaza, 2001: 49) and have long been strategic actors in the local banking sector (Anon.,2010; Hudson, 2010). Corporate links are important in the oil and gas industries as well, throughthe transfer of technology, knowledge and human resources.Another strong historical connection is through education. Canadian Presbyterian missions to

Indians in Trinidad from the 1870s taught “everything Canadian children learn” (Samaroo, 1975).Trinidadians have pursued post-secondary education in Canada since at least the 1930s (Plaza,2001: 45) and education continues to motivate emigration. In the 1980s, the number of studentvisas issued to Trinidadians was almost double that for nationals of Jamaica, Guyana and Barbadoscombined. In 1996, 30 per cent of all those who entered Canada from Trinidad came as students(Thomas-Hope, n.d.). A private school in Port of Spain offers the Ontario academic curriculum andguides students to Canadian universities. There are also significant cultural links, notably betweenToronto’s Caribbean festival, which always features Trinidadian artists, and Trinidad’s Carnival.Shared economic interests, educational links and cultural exchanges have led to short- and long-

term travel between Trinidad and Canada. In Trinidad, travel agents, newspaper advertisements andwebsites headline airfares to Toronto alongside those to other major migrant destinations. Thoughaffected by the introduction of a visitor visa for Canada in the early 1990s, Port of Spain toToronto is a well-travelled route for migrants and visitors.

MIGRATION ROUTES, ETHNOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS

As the ethnographic literature suggests, relationships between Trinidad and Canada are sustained bymigrants who have historically traversed the broad range of immigration routes from Trinidad to Can-ada. Migration histories are deeply classed, gendered and racialized, and closely associated with thedemands of Canadian, Trinidadian and multinational capital. Plaza (2001) argues that it was explicitpressure from the financial industry between 1947 and 1962 that led to loosening Canadian immigra-tion regulations that had excluded racialized migrants, to facilitate the movement of personnel betweenCanada and the region. Before 1966, only a handful of Trinidadians came to Canada each year asskilled workers, but growing demand for skilled workers led to rapid expansion of that category in thelate 1960s and the 1970s. In 1974, almost 5,000 immigrants, skilled and family class, went to Canadafrom Trinidad. That number dropped significantly soon after, due to tighter restrictions on family classimmigrants (Anderson, 1993: 62–63).3 Since the 1970s, while the family class (those joining or accom-panying relatives) has been the largest group of migrants from the Caribbean overall, Trinidad has con-sistently sent a greater proportion of independent class migrants (those assessed as having desiredskills, experience or capital to contribute to the Canadian economy) than other Caribbean states. Plaza(2001: 59) attributes this to higher levels of schooling available since the oil boom of the 1970s.



The high number of family class migrants from Trinidad (and the Caribbean region more gener-ally) in earlier decades relates to the LCP. Because it did not allow family members to migrate withthe (mostly female) domestic workers until the late 1960s, the Canadian state created a migrantcommunity that was skewed by age and sex (Anderson, 1993: 60). In the late 1960s and the1970s, the opportunity for family members to join earlier migrants was one factor in the risingnumbers. Other factors included male emigration from the Caribbean, which led to a large propor-tion of women household heads. Limited economic opportunities for women at home led them toseek new sources of income, one of which was domestic employment in Canada (Stasiulis andBakan, 2005: 54). Over the past 10 years, the number entering by this route from Trinidad hasdropped by 50 per cent (CIC, 2007).The other long-standing temporary migration programme, the SAWP, has always required that

migrants leave when their permits expire. It has brought mostly men (97%) to work on Canadianfarms since 1967. For some, this has constituted a rite of passage to adulthood, but more generallyit has been part of a set of economic strategies for subsistence in poor families (Linkton, 1998). Adwindling number of Caribbean workers now participate. About 1,600 came from Trinidad in2000, and by 2006 the number was about 1,200 (Downes, 2007: 21). Recent references suggestthat the number is now closer to 1,000, while the number of participants from Mexico rises.4

Examination of these long-standing programmes shows shifts in migrant source countries for par-ticular types of temporary programmes. Also evident is that these programmes have circumscribedparticipants’ full citizenship rights in Canada. I argue that Trinidadians’ half-century of experienceand knowledge of these particular temporary programmes, even though they are not directlyinvolved, contribute to Trinidad’s culture of migration and is a very significant factor in theirpresent-day decisions about migration to Canada.Due to linked histories in which migration and transnational lives play such a significant part,

Canada figures powerfully in Trinidadians’ mental world maps. These are also shaped by day-to-day issues in Trinidad. They include random and targeted violence, and a degree of ethnic conflictthat people say is rising and is often linked to party politics.5 They include a high cost of living,especially for food and housing. In the popular press and in people’s own narratives, these issuesare frequently linked to desires to emigrate. Over the past several years, there has been a labourshortage in many occupations that has led to temporary migration to Trinidad for work in construc-tion and health care, in particular. For some commentators, this is linked to high emigration levels.This in-migration builds on, but expands into new source regions, the history of intraregionalCaribbean migration in which Trinidad has been a popular destination for documented and undocu-mented migrants, and is shaped by Trinidad’s own migration policies (Leach, 2012).Everyone I interviewed formally during fieldwork in Trinidad6 between 2008 and 2010 had fam-

ily members and friends who had moved to Canada, the USA or the UK – often all three. Chris-tine, who owned a small beauty salon in Port of Spain and had a son living in Canada, told methat “all her Mom’s family” was in Canada. She had entered Canada as a visitor and stayed onwithout a resident’s visa. Her husband had legal status in Canada and their son was born there.She said she had grown tired of not having proper status, so she came back to Trinidad, intendingto return as an immigrant as soon as possible. Since then, she had taken night school courses toupgrade her employment potential. As she talked about how she would look for work and housingwhen she arrived in Canada, she said she felt confident that there were three or four families whowould provide her with a place to stay and support, so she “would know where the next meal iscoming from”. This sentiment was echoed as people described their plans to migrate. Leanne,working as an accountant with three children still at home, was carefully planning the family’smove to Canada. She talked about her and her husband’s family members already living in Canada,who were enthusiastically offering whatever support would be necessary when the family arrived.Leanne said that she and her husband had decided that she would leave for Canada with the chil-dren as soon as they had visas, although her husband would not be able to accompany them

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immediately because of his business in Trinidad. Not all potential migrants had middle-class occu-pations. A cook/cleaner in a small hotel said that she dreamed of joining her brother in Toronto,where she understood that she would have to work just as hard as she did now, but the futureprospects for her daughter would be far better.Not only was support forthcoming for potential migrants when they visited relatives in Canada,

but it was clear that they were courted by relatives in the strongest possible terms. Potentialmigrants were reminded of the economic opportunities for them and their children in Canada, ofaccessible educational possibilities – in short, a better life awaited them. These considerations oftendominated interview conversations. Connections to successful family members in Canada – thegreat job they had, the lovely house in the suburbs – emerged as more worthy of discussion forpotential migrants than their concerns about securing employment or fulfilling the demands of theimmigration process. Leanne told me that she was not concerned about finding a job. Her auntworked in a related field and she was confident that her networking would pay off. The welcomeoffered by Trinidadians already in Canada is partly explained by the characteristics of the Caribbeancommunity in Canada. As Simmons and Plaza (2006: 135–137) explain, the community concen-trated in Toronto has become well-established over several generations, providing services, goodsand housing through familiar idioms and practices. They point out that the Caribbean community inCanada has high levels of skill and education, and people have risen to leadership positions in busi-ness, government and education sectors. Trinidadians’ easier access to post-secondary educationcompared to those from smaller islands makes them a well-educated migrant group. This is also evi-denced by the kinds of occupations represented among those I interviewed, who were teachers,accountants, IT specialists, gas technicians and administrators. In other words, many Trinidadians inCanada have become secure, well-connected and able to pursue middle-class lifestyles. I link thestrength of chain migration between Canada and Trinidad to this phenomenon, as visibly successfulrelatives offer their resources and demonstrate the possibilities for those who follow.Another group playing a role in transnational connection are those who have already spent years

in Canada and returned to Trinidad (Plaza and Henry, 2006) having acquired formal Canadian citi-zenship. This group represents a significant (though undetermined7) number of people who livemobile transnational lives. They travel easily and frequently between the two countries, for work orto visit, or for some, simply to spend the summer in the cooler north, returning to Trinidad as theCanadian winter looms. Anecdotally, I heard that some also take advantage of the Canadian health-care system, keeping their health cards through the permanent address of a relative in Canada. Dualcitizenship is actively put to use among this group.Among Trinidadians I talked to about the migration process, however, it became very clear that

temporary migration was rarely among their plans. My attempts to engage people in discussion aboutnew temporary migration programmes, even when they had expressed the strong desire to move toCanada, yielded no interest. Despite the Canadian government’s promotion of temporary programmeson its immigration website (a site referred to frequently in our conversations), most claimed to beunaware of these programmes. When pressed about whether they might consider this route, they werequick to respond negatively. Moving to Canada was much anticipated and well-prepared for, a delib-erate strategy for long-term success. People saw themselves reuniting with family there, becomingestablished in good jobs and housing. One man mused wistfully about his children learning to skateand growing up comfortable in the winter cold, although he doubted that he could ever get used to it!There were some exceptions to this trend. Younger people told me they planned to emigrate

directly from their post-secondary education programmes, through whatever route might be avail-able. For these potential migrants, the main issue was international credential recognition, but thiswas offset by a willingness to go “to Canada, America or England. It really doesn’t matter”. It isthose who have education but as yet little that ties them more closely and in more complicatedways to Trinidad, such as their own children or property, who say they would take temporary workin Canada, but they have yet to take action.



Agricultural workers, now including some women (Preibisch and Encalada, 2008), also continue toseek work in Canada on an annual basis. My conversations support others’ findings that in Trinidad agri-cultural work is generally held in low esteem. Khan (2004: ch. 3) shows it to be associated with Indo-Trinidadians who came as indentured workers, to replace the African slaves who upon emancipationrejected agricultural work in favour of moving to urban areas and urban pursuits. It is also associatedwith economic backwardness unbecoming an oil-rich nation.8 Those who choose this migration route,then, do so because they find limited economic alternatives. Recent research by Leach and Preibisch sug-gests that this work may also serve as an intended short-termmeasure to generate funds to invest in smallbusinesses. For many of these migrants, when they returned to Trinidad, rather than working in low-paidand low status agricultural jobs, they chose the better-paid urban construction jobs.9

I argue that the refusal of most potential Trinidadian migrants to consider temporary migrationbuilds on the long-standing historical links that have been associated with migration practices thatlead to long-term residency and full citizenship. In stark contrast to these, temporary migration toCanada has historically been associated with agricultural and domestic service work and with lower-class practices. I was told of a professional who had lived in the UK for years, but had returned toTrinidad, who vehemently rejected the label “migrant” for himself, insisting that the term referredonly to temporary agricultural workers. Furthermore, temporary migration conjures images of thosefrom poorer Caribbean islands who have for generations sought work in Trinidad, often illegally.More recently, it evokes those who now work temporarily in Trinidad on construction projects and assecurity personnel, migrants from China, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Cuba (Leach, 2012).In the oil industry, the temporary/permanent distinction takes a particular shape and is quite

instructive. There is no reliable information about Trinidadians working on temporary contracts inthe oil industry outside Trinidad. However, people frequently mentioned that they had relativesworking in the oilfields of the Middle East, and there are references to this in online blogs. A Portof Spain immigration consultant proposed that people go to the Middle East to work “for quickmoney” on temporary contracts, while Canada is a destination for oil workers to settle permanently.This may be about to change. In July 2011, Trinidadian newspapers reported that Trinidad andTobago’s High Commissioner to Canada was negotiating a programme that would take 300 Trin-idadians to Alberta to work on short-term contracts in the oil industry (Tack, 2011). As the HighCommissioner put it, “In a similar way where we send over 1,000 farm workers to Canada everyyear, we enjoy excellent relationships with Canada” (Trinidad Guardian, 2011).This takes place alongside diminishing participation in the two historically long-standing tempo-

rary programmes. In recent years, Caribbean domestic workers have been displaced by Philippinedomestic workers, a trend attributed to the production of racialized, gendered stereotypes associatedwith caring (Stasiulis and Bakan, 2005: 85–87). Downes (2007: 3–4) links the decline in Trinidadianparticipation in agricultural work to lower levels of unemployment and a stronger economy in Trini-dad. Others have analysed this and the related expansion of the SAWP to Mexico in the 1970s as aform of discipline for Caribbean agricultural workers who were (and are) willing to express theirgrievances because they spoke English, and could also more easily leave the farm, using their net-works to join friends and relatives and remain in Canada illegally in the stable Caribbean community(Satzewich, 2007: 13). Similarly, McLaughlin (2010) links this shift to growing unwillingnessamong Caribbean migrants to accede to the indignities that such temporary programmes require,such as demanding that participants undergo physical examinations in the presence of other migrants,living in substandard dormitory conditions and being subjected to daily humiliations from managers.

CONCLUSION

An immigration consultant told me that whereas applicants at his company’s office in Jamaica werepleased to consider the range of temporary jobs available in Canada, he had seen little interest in

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these at his Trinidad office. The research indicates that despite new programmes and policy shifts,better-skilled workers, who are likely to know the details of Canada’s points system and that theywill qualify under it, continue to prepare for permanent residency in Canada, even when they arepresented with a potential fast track, and knowing that the alternative route takes many years. Myresearch suggests that there is a fairly brief period in a person’s life when temporary work isappealing. Once people have spouses and families of their own, they seek a permanent route. Thismay also be linked to changing ideas about family among the growing educated middle class –those who expect to meet the demands of the “point system”. Many are familiar with the conse-quences when families are divided for many years because of migration (see Pratt, 2009). But sucha luxury is not afforded to those whose economic prospects in Trinidad are more limited, notablythe agricultural workers.Historical mobility between Trinidad and Canada provides a quite well-established model for trans-

national practices that many Trinidadians live or aspire to for themselves and their families. Suchaims are seen as natural for residents of two countries with such close ties to each other, with thesame high street banks and a preoccupation with the world market price of oil and gas. Shared Com-monwealth membership and its meanings were reinforced in 2009 when Trinidad played host to theCommonwealth Heads of Government meeting. Many Trinidadians, regardless of class (though notthe agricultural workers, who are rarely able to leave the farm), know the streets of Toronto or Winni-peg as well as those of Port of Spain. Imagining merely a short-term migration connection to Canadais not only inconsistent with the historical practices of migrants, but of corporations and the statesthemselves. Furthermore, to many people, temporary migration connotes downward class mobility.Nina Glick Schiller (2009) has recently challenged migration scholars to reassess how the nation-

state operates in relation to migrants’ actions. She pushes us to consider the ways in which remit-tance-sending patterns and motivations, for example, are linked to conditions in specific localities,not simply in the sending countries to which money is remitted, but also in the places where migrantsmake the money to send home. These local conditions are shaped by neoliberal policies and practicesand incorporate changing migration regimes. Given the direction of Canadian immigration policy,many of the factors that, in the past, made Canada a preferred destination for potential Trinidadianmigrants are undergoing change. Plaza suggests that Caribbean migration moves “to the beat ofimmigration policy” (2001: 39). My intention has been to show that this is not a one-way process.Rather, migrants draw on their and their country’s historical engagements with the global system asthey consider their practices, and in so doing shape contemporary migration flows. Temporarymigrant programmes have been the target of seriously critical attention, both from non-governmentalorganizations that support migrants and from scholars on the grounds of both ethics and effective-ness. The actions of these potential and actual migrants could be taken as a further critique. Even asmigrants themselves demonstrate the importance of history in shaping migration practices and flows,policymakers try to turn them into people without history in the pursuit of their neoliberal projects.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper derives from a collaborative research project with Pauline Gardiner Barber, funded bythe Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

NOTES

1. For information on the TFWP, see the Government of Canada’s website, http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/index.asp (accessed 1 September 2011).



2. In August 2011, the government declared a state of emergency in an attempt to curb what it perceived asan escalation in gang-related killings.

3. Anderson attributes the jump in 1989 to “local factors” within Trinidad. One of these was economic reces-sion on the island, which hit the large numbers of entrepreneurs and small business owners in the Indo-Trinidadian population especially hard and led many from that community to seek to emigrate.

4. While the Caribbean region has supplied several thousand agricultural workers to Canada each year sincethe early 1970s, Mexico, which joined the programme at the same time as Trinidad, has become the majorsource, providing about 17,000 workers in 2009 out of a total of just over 23,000 (CIC, 2010), and therehas been a gradual increase in the number of agricultural workers from Guatemala (CIC, 2009: 60; see alsoSatzewich, 2007)

5. In May 2010, a general election brought to power the United National Congress party, led by Trinidad’sfirst woman Prime Minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar: the party had been in opposition for all but a handfulof the past 40 years. Long associated with Indo-Trinidadians in the same way that the ruling Peoples’National Party had been associated with Afro-Trinidadians, the UNC’s campaign promoted its capacity tocut across racial lines in order to address government corruption and other serious social issues. At the timeof writing, there appeared to be popular optimism that this can be the case.

6. I conducted four periods of fieldwork between 2008 and 2010. As well as hours of participant observation,which included informal conversations about emigration, Canada and life in Trinidad, I conducted formalinterviews with potential migrants to Canada and key informants. Potential migrants were referred byacquaintances, and eventually by each other and included both Indo-Trinidadians and Afro-Trinidadians.There were 16 women and eight men. On the basis of their occupations in Trinidad, their class status wasmiddle or lower-middle class. The only criterion for inclusion was that they were considering migrating toCanada. Consequently, they were at different stages in the immigration process; some investigating, otherswaiting as their application was processed. Key informants included immigration consultants, governmentofficers, educational institution career counsellors and staff at the Canadian High Commission in Port ofSpain. Some key informant interviews took place in their offices, but most interviews took place in loca-tions such as coffee shops and hotels, and they usually lasted a little over an hour. Two lasted as long as3 hours. All except four of the potential migrants were interviewed only once. In accordance with universitypolicies, the participants were assured that their information would remain confidential.

7. Neither country tracks the entry and exit of its own citizens.8. This has had significant consequences, as Trinidad largely imports food and has allowed its agricultural sec-

tor to decline. There was something of a national crisis when food prices rose suddenly in 2007, evidencethat oil and gas revenues were not generating sufficient wealth to insulate the majority from the impact ofsuch increases. Food security has become a major government concern.

9. Trinidad’s construction boom in the past few years is associated with its aspirations to become a hemi-spheric leader. In 2009, Trinidad hosted both the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting and theSummit of the Americas, requiring the construction of several new hotels, a conference centre, a regionalarts centre, waterfront development and associated infrastructure upgrading. While much of the labourassociated with this has been brought from elsewhere on temporary permits, there have been some workopportunities for Trinidadians.

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Canada's Migrants without History: Neoliberal Immigration Regimes and Trinidadian Transnationalism

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