Metropolis 2014 No Barriers Between Groups with Differing Agendas

Metropolis 2014, the 16th national conference was held March 12-15, 2014 in Gatineau, Quebec. Four graduate students from the Department of Geography at UBC were fortunate to be offered the opportunity to attend. By all accounts, it was a very worthwhile experience.

Not sure what to expect, we arrived at the conference centre early on the first day. Immediately noticeable were the “impromptu” conversations around us. A careful listen (otherwise known as eavesdropping) brought the realization that the discussions involved a diverse mix of academic researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. It also became apparent that many of these people have long-standing relationships with one another. This brought me pause. I’ve attended a good number of conferences – Metropolis was different not because of the topic, but in the composition of its attendees and their willingness to collaborate.

In reviewing the conference program, we were impressed by the volume of workshops on a variety of topics ranging from the economic aspects of foreign credential recognition, routes to licensing, integration, settlement outcomes, and education to the socio-cultural issues of knowledge sharing, challenges in advocacy, serving vulnerable populations and facilitating inclusion. My area of interest is in security specifically, and available topics included some interesting work on social exclusion, the exclusionary dynamics of data collection practices, efforts to measure counter violent extremism (CVE) programs, securitization and religious radicalization, and issues of radicalization online through identity and group formation.

At every opportunity: in workshops, at roundtables, and in the lineup for buffet lunch, I would strike up conversation with fellow Metropolis attendees. I met people from NGOs, those engaged in policy research and planning, a researcher for CIC, students and professors in academia, and others with frontline operational experience.

At one roundtable session, a representative of Public Safety sat with academics from a wide variety of areas; their collaboration and cooperation resulting in a book: “Religious Secularization and Securitization in Canada and Beyond” (forthcoming in October 2014; edited by Paul Bramadat and Lorne Dawson). Also present was the CIC Director General of research and evaluation who praised the book for its capacity to increase knowledge and open minds. This was really reflective of the Metropolis experience – where barriers between groups with differing agendas seemed to matter little; and open dialogue was the focus.

At another session, the topic focused on the importance of narrative in bridging and dividing communities. Preliminary research findings by Rima Berns-McGown of the Mosaic Institute in partnership with Public Safety Canada were presented. The final report “Perception and Reality of Imported Conflict” was released last week and is available for download on the TSAS website, a very worthwhile and engaging report. Be sure to also look for the Association for Canadian Studies’ soon to be published report by Jack Jedwab “Identity and Resilience, from Attitudes to Behaviour in response to Security, Terrorism, and Anti-Terrorism”. Both projects were Kanishka funded. It is important to highlight that the Metropolis workshops engaged with issues of national security, counter terrorism, and countering violent extremism in the broader context of social change. This is in keeping with the TSAS mandate to engage in policy-relevant research on terrorism, security, and society.

To summarize our Metropolis experience is to say that we learned and reinforced many concepts in the traditional sense expected from a conference. More importantly though, Metropolis was the lens through which we became aware of the layered, multi-dimensional, and thick context of immigration policy and practice in Canada.

by Erin Osterberg
PhD Student – Human Geography
University of British Columbia