CRS/CERLAC Book Launch: Defying Higher Education Borders with Migrant Students in Canada: Building Counterstories and Sanctuary Universities
April 9, 2026
1:00-2:30pm (Toronto)
This is a hybrid event
In person: 626 Kaneff Tower, Keele Campus
Virtually: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/nnPJIfCcTyGp3Zw38D2-Bw
Guest speakers: Tanya Aberman, Sanctuary Scholars Programs at York University and Paloma Villegas, Associate professor of Sociology at California State University San Bernardino; Amar Bhatia, Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Vernetta Avril, MEd and former Sanctuary Scholar, Ranu Basu, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change and the Centre for Refugee Studies, York University; Yvette Munro, Vice Provost Students, York University
This book explores the Sanctuary Scholars program and migrant students' struggles for equitable access to higher education in Canada. Through the concepts of "bordering" and "countering," we examine how students excluded due to immigration status resisted systemic barriers by forming supportive classroom communities and challenging dominant narratives. By providing essential insights for educators, policymakers, and advocates seeking to build more inclusive and just higher education systems, our book reveals how everyday acts of resistance can transform exclusion into opportunity and reimagine universities as sanctuaries.
Link to publisher: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/defying-higher-education-borders-with-migrant-students-in-canada-9781666955606/
Tanya Aberman (she/her) holds a PhD in Gender Feminist and Women's Studies from York University. She has developed, coordinated and taught community and university-based education programs for newcomer and
migrant students. Tanya coordinates the Sanctuary Scholars Programs at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University, which provide access to the universities for students who hold precarious immigration status.
Paloma E. Villegas is a Mexican immigrant and Associate professor of Sociology at California State University San Bernardino. In addition to researching and teaching at the intersections of migration, citizenship, borders, race, and gender, she also engages in artistic practices including painting, sculpture, and poetry.
Co-sponsored with
