·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨

June 16, 2025

Story and interview by Alek Szaranski, who is pursuing his PhD in English and Film at ·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨.

Refugee crises from war, natural disaster, and other events challenge the leaders of countries in political and social dimensions. The ongoing civil war in Syria, for example, has displaced millions of people with a concentration of refugees fleeing to Turkey, with other countries following suit to varying degrees. As of 2024, Canada has expressed its continued support to those affected by the war.

Migration is multifaceted. ·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨’s attests to the scale of this area of research, as the centre brings together a variety of scholars who study and educate on all topics concerning international migration; it is also a prominent rallying point for newcomers and community members alike. Indeed, the overall objective of the IMRC is to facilitate this important research and to take action at all corners of what we call migration.

Conversation with Drs. Jenna Hennebry and Kim Rygiel

When I spoke with directors Drs. Jenna Hennebry and Kim Rygiel, it quickly became clear that the IMRC was a complex and sprawling hub for the discipline. Dr. Hennebry, recognized internationally for her scholarship on migrant worker rights, migration and gender as well as her work as a delegate to the United Nations, shared with me how the Centre was founded in 2008 in collaboration with Dr. Margaret Walton–Roberts. Speaking to the migration research community in the mid-2000s, “one of the things I noticed was just how spread out we all were,” she tells me. The establishment of the centre aimed to concentrate on innovation in migration research and to connect scholars across departments, faculties, and universities.

While the centre has had a long relationship with the Faculty of Arts at ·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨, it has also welcomed several visiting scholars from across Canada and the globe. Dr. Hennebry emphasizes the significance of innovation and community: “Our mandate is to bring together interdisciplinary folks and researchers, but at a community level, also bring practitioners and policymakers towards debate, dialogue, and research around migration that looks at everything from governance to everyday experiences of migration among migrants themselves. We aim to link all these things together.”

Most recently, Dr. Hennebry has been working with scholars on knowledge mobilization initiatives regarding migration, which are educational resources on topics from gender to worker’s rights. The Gender + Migration Hub, for example, launched in 2023 as an in-depth and accessible resource that outlines the intersections of gender in policies and practices surrounding migration to support the Global Compact for Safe Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM). By consolidating current research on gender and migration into themes pinpointing areas such as migration pathways, oppression and violence in migration, and migrant rights, the Gender + Migration Hub seeks to provide governments with the tools to refine migration practices and encourage gender-responsive approaches to migration policies and practices.

Another initiative where the IMRC collaborates, Dr. Hennebry shares with me, is the Migrant Worker Health Project (MWHP). Launched in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this project brings together decades of research and scholarship into an accessible resource for migrant workers. “This initiative focuses on migrant workers in Canada,” Dr. Hennebry explains, “and tries to raise awareness about everything from their health and safety to their rights and protections, to making sure they have access to full healthcare and compensation systems.” Furthermore, the project organizes important information for migrant workers seeking healthcare and social services with a focus on COVID-19 resources, as well as educational resources about worker’s rights in Canada.

The MWHP also reports on current policies concerning temporary foreign workers, vaccination policies in migration, and working conditions in agriculture through the Migrant Worker Health Expert Working Group (MWH-EWG). Founded by Dr. Hennebry as well as Drs. C. Susana Caxaj and Janet McLaughlin, the MWH-EWG is made up of several dedicated researchers and experts that aim to support migrant workers with educational resources and advise governments at the federal and provincial level toward the wellbeing and equity of migrant agricultural workers.

These initiatives, Dr. Hennebry explains, also take form in workshops with grassroots organizations across the world, which have taken place in Germany, Bangkok, and later this year, workshops will take place in Mexico, Colombia, and Morocco. “We try to engage people,” Dr. Hennebry tells me, whether that is with the research and education of the public about perspectives of LGBTIQ migrants, or about issues of gender equality. “The IMRC has the background to enable that. We have interns, we have researchers, students, post-docs, all working on one thing [at a time].” The IMRC’s publication, Policy Points, Dr. Hennebry reminds me, is another avenue for disseminating this kind of research by members of the centre.

The sense of collaboration is what struck me the most when speaking with Dr. Hennebry. The IMRC not only facilitates this important work and is inclusive in stimulating new research, but in effect further encourages the mobilization of this research into practice around the world, whether that takes form in policy writing, initiatives, or grassroots movements and workshops.

When I spoke to Dr. Kim Rygiel, co-director of the IMRC, it became clear how much the centre takes pride in its public events for newcomers and scholars alike, as well as its approach to education through art alongside initiatives in knowledge mobilization.

“I used to work in audiotherapy,” she tells me as she shares her background. “I worked in parts of Mexico and in northern Quebec with the Cree School Board. That’s how I got interested in doing more international relations work.” She has also worked with the federal government in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAIT) before graduating from York University and eventually coming to ·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨ in 2009. “My work in terms of subject matter has always been sort of at the intersection of borders, border security, critical citizenship, and migration.”

I asked Dr. Rygiel about the role of the centre, as well as her own role within it. While the centre has been successful in receiving important grants and through publications and policy work, as evidenced by the output of its researchers, Dr. Rygiel notes that at the same time, there are objectives beyond productivity. “The IMRC, first of all, it’s really been a community. It’s much more than a research centre … it’s not just about successful productivity,” she stresses to me, “it’s actually about building community, community across the ·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨ campus, different faculties, different departments, and it’s also with our students.” As a co-director, Dr. Rygiel is certainly among the leadership of the centre, but speaking with her, I got the sense that this position goes beyond strategic planning or research productivity. The relationships maintained by the centre with other groups in the region such as Immigration Waterloo, which is led by executive director Tara Bedard, who also serves on the IMRC’s board, as well as the support it provides for undergraduate students, graduate students, and visiting scholars at ·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨ are just as paramount as the less glamorous internal workings of academic life.

Another key pursuit of the centre alongside its outreach through social programs and student support includes public events. These events aim to educate as much as celebrate the scholarship of the centre, of ·ï»Ë²ÊƱƽ̨, and other members in the community. Dr. Rygiel tells me about the Waterloo Region Migration Film Festival, where films exploring experiences of migration were exhibited and then followed by a panel of filmmakers, artists, graduate students, and community experts. In 2019, the centre hosted the Canadian premiere of Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time, co-directed and co-produced by Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani and Arash Kamali Sarvestani while Boochani was imprisoned in the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea. The film was made in secret on mobile phones; during this time, Boochani also wrote No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison on a mobile phone with WhatsApp, sending messages to Moones Mansoubi, a consultant translator, to then be sent to Omid Tofighian, who translated the messages into English. The centre had the pleasure of having Boochani speak virtually at the premiere. Stories like Boochani’s, Dr. Rygiel suggests to me over the course of our conversation, provide a form of education through art, be that about migration, or global politics, or other challenges associated with human movement. Expression through stories and art help to facilitate the meaningful connections, which form the basis of the Centre’s mission toward community and research.

Another area of Dr. Rygiel’s research considers grassroots community organizations around migration, including the role of art and cultural platforms. Her current research aims to update previous work exploring the “welcome culture” of countries like Germany and Denmark in light of far-right mobilization and growing anti-immigrant and refugee sentiments. Give Something Back to Berlin (GSBTB), an organization formed in 2013, is a good example of welcome culture in action. Utilizing social media, GSBTB provides easy connections between new migrants in the country and Berliners willing to help, whether that means looking for work, securing housing, or facilitating group activities. At the IMRC, “we’re interested in how immigrants themselves use technology … how do they use social media [for example]?” Dr. Rygiel asks. Speaking about GSBTB, Dr. Rygiel describes it to me as “a platform that puts people together, but specifically newcomers coming into the community with established people and companies. It’s a digital tool for migrants.”

Of course, there are countless ethical considerations for data privacy and security that come with these digital technologies, especially in the context of migration, Dr. Rygiel reminds me. Technology is also the driving theme of the latest season of the centre’s podcast, Displacements. The podcast brings out scholars, activists, and other figures to explore all aspects of migration. This new season of the podcast is wrapping up production and will be released soon, featuring interviews with scholars like lawyer and anthropologist, Petra Molnar, and Dr. Ben Muller of King’s University College.

Both Dr. Hennebry and Dr. Rygiel also spoke to me about the new Migration + Technology Hub (MTH) launched by the IMRC, which explores how financial systems and technology, surveillance technologies, biometrics, border architecture technology, and internet industries shape international migration. Recently, in collaboration with the Association of Political Science Students (APSS), a policy competition titled “Navigating the Nexus: Migration and Technology in a Changing World” was launched, encouraging students to submit proposals on this intersection of technology and migration. This competition culminated in a winning proposal by students Menka Bélanger, Aniela Kola, and Rukaiya Merchant from Western University titled “Towards Racially Sensitive Border Technology.” This proposal investigates the gendered and racial biases of biometric systems like facial recognition. Indeed, through competitions like and other events, the MTH works to facilitate an ongoing discussion on the relationships between technology and migration.

From publications to events, policy contests to podcasts, the centre is a critical hub for migration research in Canada and abroad. My conversations with Drs. Hennebry and Rygiel made clear that the centre fosters a passion for research, community, and social justice, through highly detailed initiatives, through art, and through student-engagement and scholarly collaboration.

About

• Jenna Hennebry
• Kim Rygiel