| Summary: | In the wake of increased emigration from the Netherlands over the last several years, the aim of
this thesis is to examine the main motivating factors that inform current Dutch migration
practices to Canada. In this qualitative, multi-sited research comprised of 34 participants,
considerable attention is given to examine the popular notions linking this observed increase in
emigration to the growing politicization of issues related to immigration and racialization in the
Netherlands itself, including the murder of politician Pirn Fortuyn and filmmaker Theo van
Gogh. A transnational framework is used to address aspects related to the role of the media, the
family, the maintenance of ties with the country of origin, the contestation of the notion of
immigration, and the role of the nation-state in creating differentiated access to immigration. An
overview of the motivations that informs the participants' decision to immigrate to Canada
reveals that there is a cluster of overlapping reasons, often predicated on the historic notion that
Holland is overpopulated. Motivations include a dislike of the current politicization of issues
related to immigrants in Holland; a perceived lack of space and nature; frustration with rules and
regulations; and, a perceived negative shift in socio-cultural attitude. In addition, current Dutch
migration to Canada exemplifies a migration flow where economic motivators are no longer the
centre point informing their decision to migrate, and the participants' migration practices also
exemplify new considerations for how the concept of transmigrants is used in transnational
migration studies. === Arts, Faculty of === Anthropology, Department of === Graduate
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