Search

Based on a critical analysis of the public debate on street gangs in Quebec, which is currently structured by preventive actions geared towards "at-risk" youth, this paper explores the relationship that youth construct with the State. Firstly, the article analyses the social construction of the threat attributed to street gangs in order to reveal the underlying logics of gang activities as much as of preventive programs. By comparing these two logics of action which are called "urban" for youth and street gangs and "actuarial" for preventive programs, the paper suggests that preventive measures in Montreal have a threefold effect: stigmatisation, depoliticisation, and moralisation. The analysis of these effects leads in the third part of the paper to theoretical reflections on the notion of (urban) citizenship and its relevance for understanding the relationship that youth using illicit vectors construct with the State. The paper concludes with an exploration of the notion of informality and asks an open question: Can the notion of citizenship accommodate the informal mode of relation that youth and many other urban dwellers develop with the State? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Wapikoni mobile is an indigenous video training project that addresses the First Nations communities of Quebec. Through this project, which offers workshops to people between the ages of 15 and 30, certain young people are taught to produce and direct films. In addition, some are invited to show their creations in public events and venues in Québec and abroad. Since 2004, the Wapikoni mobile has reached 2000 participants, produced 500 videos and has won over fifty prizes. Through the concept of citizenship, this article seeks to examine the spaces of dialogue opened for and by indigenous youth of Québec through the Wapikoni mobile. Based on non-participant observation and in-depth interviews with Wapikoni mobile participants, the paper seeks to understand how the process of giving voice - in multiple venues and at multiple scales - may alter their experience of citizenship. While the process they participate in is full of contradictions, these indigenous youth are redrawing the territories of citizenship in contemporary Québec and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In July 2009 the Canadian government abruptly imposed visa requirements on all Mexicans traveling into Canada. This action sought to curtail the unprecedented rise in the number of Mexican asylum seekers reaching Canadian soil. Based on a series of interviews conducted with Mexican asylum seekers and refugees in Montreal, Canada, this paper seeks to explore critically the causes of this phenomenon. In particular, we are interested in analyzing the ways in which Mexican asylum-seeking constitutes an "act" of citizenship (following Isin, 2008), and how this act should be contextualized and understood within the rapidly evolving context of the North American geopolitical space. Indeed, as their stories demonstrate, Mexican asylum seekers actively question and rework dominant political and economic discourses associated with contemporary North America. Their stories suggest that Mexican mobility is not simply driven by economics but is also deeply political in nature. Second, their stories demonstrate that political, economic and social violences are embedded within the contemporary transnational edifice of North American governance. Finally, their stories highlight the deep inequalities in access to mobility within North America. In sum, Mexican asylumseekers force into a transnational arena issues that destabilize received notions about Mexico and Mexicans, and in so doing attempt to rework the limits of contemporary transnational justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]