| Summary: | This thesis is a comparative analysis of the legal discourse used in two Canadian
immigration law cases, Chen v. MEI, (FC, 1991 ; FCA, 1993; SCC, 1995) and Parmjit
Singh Mangat v. MEI , (FC, 1991), and the narrative literary discourse used in M.G.
Vassanji's novel The In-Between World of Vikram hall. The focus of this analysis is the
way in which each of these discourses discusses and evaluates the discretionary judgment
of morality. It covers the history of the use of discretionary judgment in the Canadian
immigrant selection process, its relationship to quantifiable methods of assessment, and
the curtailment of two key discretionary sections - section 11(3) of the Immigration Act
and item 9, "Personal Suitability," of the selection criteria used to assess Independent
Immigrants - at the end of the twentieth century. It is argued that the form of the law
limits its content and that the type of discourse chosen by the law fosters a hermeneutic
method which makes impossible the discussion of non-economic considerations within
these discretionary sections. This cuts those working within the law off from the larger
non-economic aims of the Immigration Act itself. The legal preference for logical
positivist discourse (and the narrow perception of immigrants, Canadians and Canadian
society which results from it) is compared to the discourse used in a work of literature.
The techniques both of writing and of reading literary narrative are evaluated in terms of
their ability to discuss the issue of morality, and to create a framework within which non-quantifiable
issues of this sort can be discussed. It is argued that literary narrative,
because of the relationship that it establishes with its reader, and its ability to develop
complex general concepts through the discussion of particular events, can provide a
clearer picture of what is involved with discretionary judgment. Further, the ability of
narrative discourse to articulate these principles and processes may indicate a use for
narrative within immigration law itself. It could perhaps serve as a vehicle for legislation
pertaining to these types of non-quantifiable assessment, criteria.
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