The Emerging Migration Regime in the New North America and the Challenge of Rights.

While both Canada and the United States have foundational histories as "countries of immigration" and both still actively seek immigrants, recent developments suggest that policy-making is becoming more bilateral than strictly national. Thus, in the aftermath of September 11, Canada and the United States signed the "US-Canada Smart Border Declaration" in December 2001. This 30 point plan requires reviewing and possibly changing everything from visa policies to the refugee determination system. A similar, though less extensive, smart border accord was signed between the United States and Mexico in March 2002. Utilizing government documents, statements by immigrant advocacy groups, and empirical and philosophical scholarly accounts, this paper will assess the implications of the move towards smart borders in the new North America. Special attention will be paid to the evolving relationship between Canada, the United States and Mexico in light of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, and the implications for humanitarianism in light of continued migratory and refugee flows. It is argued that global or cosmopolitan understandings of citizenship rights and responsibilities offer a useful corrective to the logic of sovereignty that underpins many recent developments.This paper builds on my recent published work in the areas of migration and diversity in both Canada and the United States. This includes "The New North America and the Segmentation of Canadian Citizenship" in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANADIAN STUDIES (2004); "Regionalism, Migration and (Fortress) North America in REVIEW OF CONSTITUTIONAL STUDIES (forthcoming 2005); and my co-authored book with Christina Gabriel SELLING DIVERSITY: IMMIGRATION, MULTICULTURALISM, EMPLOYMENT EQUITY AND GLOBALIZATION (Broadview, 2002). ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]