Invisibility while under Scrutiny: Media Portrayals of White Temporary Foreign Workers

Abstract

Background: Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in Canada became the focus of public and media scrutiny in 2013 for allegedly replacing Canadian workers. One group of workers escaped the same scrutiny despite working in similar occupational categories—International Experience Canada (IEC) participants, primarily white, young workers from a variety of European countries, Australia, and New Zealand.Analysis: This article explores the significance of the spectre of whiteness to contemporary Canadian migration governance and employs critical discourse analysis, paying attention to the tone of select front-page coverage of the IEC program in two Canadian and two Irish news outlets.Conclusions and implications: The limited coverage of ethnically white IEC participants shielded them from the negative scrutiny experienced by racialized TFWs. “Irish” became a stand-in for the infinite variability of whiteness in Canadian nationhood.