The National Film Board of Canada and the Canadian Discourses of Immigration

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the articulation of immigration discourse in the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) film productions. We also address the interdiscursivity of “racialized discourse” and “economic discourse” regarding immigration, as articulated in these films. Specifically, we use insights from Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis to examine how documentary films by the National Film Board of Canada both construct and hide Canadian exceptionalism. We argue that exceptionalism constituted in NFB media discourse creates an “imaginary” of immigration as an altruistic and ethical practice. At the same time these discourses obscure the fact that Canada’s immigration discourse is largely driven by economic motivations. White Canadians are portrayed as good global citizens with virtues such as tolerance, neutrality, openness, inclusiveness, fairness, social justice, etc. On the other hand, only those immigrants who are willing to assimilate/integrate into the Canadian imaginary are included in the imaginary. We take a sample of three documentary films produced by NFB from 1949 to 1998 to have a longitudinal look at the propagation and perpetuation of exceptionalist discourses on immigration and to argue that notwithstanding the benevolence inherent in policy and academic discourses the prime motivation behind acceptance of immigrants has always been economic.