Transnationalizing Families: Canadian Immigration Policy and the Spatial Fragmentation of Care-giving among Latin American Newcomers

Abstract

Complex factors associated with migration and immigration policies contribute to the dispersion of families across space. We draw on interviews with 40 Latin American women in Toronto who experienced separation from children as a result of migration and argue that Canadian immigration policy and elements of the women’s context of departure lead to the systemic production of transnational family arrangements. Once in Canada, the women dealt with unexpected lengths of separation, the spatial dispersal of social reproduction, and post-reunification problems. The absence of a normative framework that could help the mothers make sense of family dispersal meant that their experiences of migration, family separation, reunification and settlement were marked by tension, guilt, isolation and shame.