Episode 24: Stuck, Silent, and Disposable: How precarious migrants in rural Ontario fight for Legal Aid

Episode Summary

This episode of CRSP Talk features Dr. Nuha Dwaikat-Shaer, a social worker and researcher, discussing her qualitative study on the challenges migrants with precarious immigration status face when seeking legal aid. The discussion focuses on the lives of essential migrant workers and international students in rural Southern Ontario who are often invisible in legal and social systems, facing barriers like geographic isolation, language issues, and fear of retaliation. Dr. Dwaikat-Shaer shares stories illustrating how their precarious status and closed work permits can force them to choose between enduring abuse and risking deportation. The conversation concludes by exploring systemic solutions for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers, emphasizing dignity-centered services and the need for policy change toward open work permits and easier access to status.

Episode Notes

Guest for This Episode

Nuha Dwaikat-Shaer is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University. She is also a Steering Committee member at the  Centre for Research on Security Practices. She recently completed her PhD at the School of Social Work at McGill University. Her research focuses on space and housing rights and how that's affected by settler colonial practices. Her broad research agenda focuses on access to social services for racial minorities in settler colonial contexts, rooted in a commitment to human rights and social justice.

Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode

• Bridging the Justice Gap: Supporting Precarious Migrants in Rural Ontario
• Community Legal Clinic - Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk (project partner)
• Hanley, J., Salamanca Cardona, M., Larios, L., Henaway, M., Dwaikat-Shaer, N., Ben Soltane, S., & Eid, P. (2018). Transportation and temp agency work: Risks and opportunities for migrant workers. Cahiers de géographie québécoise, 62(177).
• Larios, L., Hanley, J., Salamanca, M., Henaway, M., Dwaikat-Shaer, N., Ben-Soltane, S., & Eid, P. (2020). Engaging migrant care workers: Examining cases of exploitation by recruitment agencies in Quebec, Canada. International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 6(1/2), 138–157.
• Hanley, J., Larios, L., Salamanca, M., Henaway, M., Dwaikat-Shaer, N., Ben-Soltane, S., & Eid, P. (2017). Gender dynamics of temporary placement agency work: (Im)migrants, know your place! Canadian Diversity, 14(2), 37-42.

Support and Funding for This Episode

It was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

AI acknowledgement: AI tools were used to generate the background and assist with the layout of the podcast image.

This episode was produced by Avery Moore Kloss from Folktale Studio.