Creating a ‘New’ New Brunswick: A Critical Analysis of New Brunswick’s Population Growth Strategy Through Economic Immigration Policies

Abstract

New Brunswick has been faces with a variety of social and economic struggles in recent years, and as a result has been exploring a variety of different solutions to resist these shortfalls. Population growth remains a significant focus for the province to accommodate for many of these issues, predominantly through immigration; the underlying effects and indirect consequences of these strategies remain unresearched. This thesis thus consists of a critical analysis of three documents using a Bourdieusian theoretical framework: the New Brunswick Population Growth Strategy (2019-2024), the New Brunswick Express Entry Stream, and the New Brunswick Skilled Worker Stream, to see how well these programs align with what is offered by the New Brunswick government for supports and consider if or how these programs encourage retention in the province. Findings indicate an indirectly exclusive economic immigrant that adheres to a variety of neoliberal principles, and simultaneously enforce patriarchal, geopolitical, and racial hierarchies through many of these credentials. Findings also indicate a privatized, economically driven, and short-term model of immigration and population growth, that lacks consideration of the long researched barriers to successful integration within communities. Lastly, the province utilizes the existing inequities within economic immigration programs to promote short-term contributions to the province’s economy without equal support that citizens and Permv anent Residents may access. This thesis concludes with reflections on how to improve these strategies with a long-term approach to population growth and retention