CARFMS Graduate/Law Student Essay Contest

 

Past Winners of the CARFMS Graduate/Law Student Essay Contest

2024

A Half-open Door: A Case Study of Canada’s Special Immigration Programs for Afghan Nationals – Neela Hassan, Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo

2023

There was no winner in the Graduate and Law category this year due to insufficient entries.

2022

Winner

“The Followers in Chinese Civil War: Diasporic women’s gender roles and motherhood practices in a military village”, Szu-Nuo Chou, University of Ottawa

Shortlisted Essays:

“Forced Migration and Forms of Power: United States Policy on Displacement in the Context of Climate Change”, Vanessa Silva-Roy, Carleton University

“Cosmopolitical Foodways in the Borderlands of El Paso”, Rudi Barwin, Allard School of Law, UBC

2021

Winner: Mutual aid amongst refugees: Organized abandonment and anarchic places, Nicolas Parent, McGill University

Runners up (in no particular order):

Migration as climate adaptation: Insights from Mesoamerica, Benjamin Keenan, McGill University

Displaced Venezuelans and the Politics of Asylum: The case of Brazil’s Group Recognition Policy, Luiz Leomil, Carleton University

2020

Winner: “Unpacking knowledge-practices in social movements: The Canadian Rohingya social movement,” Yuriko Cowper-Smith, University of Guelph

Runners up (in no particular order): 

• “Fleeing Domestic Violence, Fleeing Transphobia: Examining Intimate Partner Violence Asylum Claims Involving Transgender Claimants,” Shannon Russell,  University of British Columbia
• “Deciding Who to Sponsor in Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program,” Ian van Haren, McGill University
• “Naples: Sanctuary City?,” Travis Moore, York University

2019

Winner: ” HISTORICALLY SPANISH: Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and the changing nature of Suspect Communities vis-à-vis racialization mechanisms,” Angelica Hasbon, York University

Runners up (in no particular order):

• “Balanced reporting? Constructing the refugee in news coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis in Canada and the UK,” Man Xu
• “Social Movement Theory & Italy’s Migrant Question,” Travis Moore, York University
• “Decolonizing Research Ethics in Kakuma Refugee Camp,” Neil Bilotta, McGill University

2018

Winner: “Like a tree without leaves”: Syrian refugee women and the shifting meaning of Marriage​”, Dina Taha, York University

Runners up (in no particular order): 

•  “Limits of Social Capital for Refugee Integration: A Case of Iranian Gay Refugees Integration in Canada​​“, Aryan Karimi, University of Alberta
• “Canadian Children Behind Bars: How De Facto Detention Violates the Principle of Non-Discrimination“, Lorielle Giffin, Ryerson University
• “Non-Refoulement Obligations under Article 1F(a) of the Refugee Convention“, Jenny Poon, University of Western Ontario

2017

Winner: “Family Reunification in Canada: Towards Authentic Humanitarianism​,” (PDF) Tania Dargy, Ryerson University

Runners up (in no particular order): 

• “Somali Refugee Students in Canadian Schools: Postmigration Experiences,” Mohamad Ayoub, University of Windsor
• “Sounding the World Imagining ontologies as mobile through sound and song,​” (PDF) Emma Bider, Carleton University

2016

Winner: David Suk, McGill University (david.suk@mail.mcgill.ca), for his paper: “Febles v Canada: A plainly wrong plain-text interpretation of Article 1F(b)“

Runners up (in no particular order): 

• Jesse Beatson, McGill University (jesse.beatson@mail.mcgill.ca) for his paper: “The Stories We Tell About Refugee Claimants: An analysis of bogus, victim, and rights frames as ways of reckoning healthcare access“
• John Laman, York University (lamanjm@gmail.com) for his paper: “Revisiting the Sanctuary City: Citizenship or Abjection? Spotlighting the Case of Toronto” (PDF)

2015

Winner: Congratulations to Sasha Lallouz for winning the 2015 essay contest for her paper titled “The Credible Claimant meets the Credible Autobiographer“

Runners up (in no particular order): 

• Peter Grbac, “Politicizing Protection: India and its 1971 Refugees“, McGill University
• Ecem Oskay, “Conceptualizing Refugee Agency”, McGill University
• Kathryn Dennler, “Undoing Immigration Status in the UK“, York University

2013

La politique d’asile dans l’Union européenne face à l’article 3 de la Convention Européenne des Droits de l’Homme et le principe de non-refoulement: Évolutions, doutes et certitudes – Anaël Aram Tchoulfian, University of Montreal

We also congratulate the shortlisted candidates Tanya Aberman (York University) and Jeewon Min (University of British Columbia).  

Runners up (in no particular order): 

Surrogate Protection in Canada and Potential Nationality in South Korea: Does a North Korean Asylum-Seeker have a “genuine link” to South Korea? – Jeewon Min, University of British Columbia

 Gendered Perspectives on Refugee Determination in Canada  – Tanya Aberman, York University

2012

Starting From Refugees Themselves: Sketch for an Institutional Ethnography of Refugee Resettlement – Christophe Sevigny, Carleton University

2011

Exclusion in International Refugee Law: 20th Century Principles for 21st Century Practice? – Justin Mohammed

Runners up (in no particular order): 

One Roof, One Right: Refugee Claimants and the Right to Social Housing – Andrea Clegg, McGill University