கப்பல் (kappal – ship in Thamil)

Tamils flee by sea
Arrive, detain, separate
Waiting in limbo

Congrats to Harini Sivalingam (PhD candidate, Socio-Legal Studies, York University) whose research examines how Tamil maritime forced migrants from Sri Lanka who arrived to Canada aboard the MV Ocean Lady and MV Sun Sea conceptualize and navigate their experiences prior to and during their maritime journey, and upon encounter with the Canadian state. By focusing on this ‘hypervisible’ example of maritime forced migration, the research investigates how Tamil forced maritime migrants experience their journeys and arrivals to Canada. More specifically, the research is interested in ways that Tamil maritime forced migrants make sense of their experiences in the context of dominant and intersecting concerns with securitized, criminalized and humanitarian governance of forced migration that influence Canadian law, policy, and decision making in this domain. While formal state and civil society responses surrounding the governance of maritime arrivals of forced migrants are studied in this research, the primary focus is on the voices, decision-making, and experiences of the Tamil forced maritime migrants.