Navigating Home(s): Displacement and Resettlement in Nepal amid Ongoing Disaster Risks

After the 2015 Nepal earthquakes, the government recommended relocating “at-risk” communities to safer, integrated settlements. However, many families struggled to maintain their economic and cultural livelihoods, and instead adopted “circular resettlement.”

After the 2015 earthquakes, a geohazards assessment was undertaken, which recommended the relocation of communities “at risk” of potential future geohazards to safer, integrated settlements. While reducing geohazard exposure, the relocated families studied struggled to maintain their cultural practices and agricultural livelihoods. The research, which was undertaken as part of the Sajag-Nepal project and funded by UKRI through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), shows how displaced residents navigated these tensions by moving between new earthquake-resilient integrated settlements and their ancestral lands. This “circular resettlement” highlights how disaster relocation is an ongoing adaptation strategy, not a permanent, one-way move.

“The experiences of resettled communities in Nepal offer global lessons—including here in British Columbia—for communities navigating the uncertainties of disaster and climate-related displacement.”

Sara Shneiderman

Associate Professor, UBC Anthropology and School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

Key Findings

Following the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, the Government of Nepal urged communities at risk of future landslides to relocate to ensure their physical safety, with many families settling in new “integrated settlements.”
While these new settlements provided robust earthquake-resilient housing, they lacked the necessary spaces for extended families to conduct cultural and agricultural activities. This left many displaced residents socially disconnected and economically vulnerable.
To cope with these challenges, displaced residents adopted a strategy of “circular resettlement.” By moving back and forth between their new, safer homes and their original ancestral lands, they balanced physical safety with their livelihoods.

Recommendations

Continued risk assessment is required to reduce the exposure of potentially vulnerable populations.
Future resettlement frameworks must go beyond building houses to integrate adequate space for livelihood activities, including farming, livestock, and cultural practices into community design.
Long-term planning should anticipate and support circular mobility between original and new locations, including multi-sited living arrangements where original settlements remain accessible.

Implications for Current Events

On August 26, a massive glacial landslide at the Nepal-Tibet border led to a flashflood along rivers downstream. Over 1300 people have died, and over 5000 remain missing. As rescue and recovery efforts continue, experts are examining the climate, infrastructure, and governance factors that may have contributed to the disaster. In the months and years ahead, however, another challenge will be to help affected communities rebuild their lives, including deciding where and how people who lost their homes should relocate.

Research by Dr. Sara Shneiderman and colleagues offers an important lesson for this longer-term recovery. Their research follows how after the 2015 earthquakes in Nepal, the government moved some affected communities into new settlements designed to protect residents from future environmental risks. Although these homes were safer, they often did not provide enough space for cultural activities or agricultural work. In response, displaced residents adopted practices of “circular resettlement,” moving back and forth between their new homes and their ancestral villages. Their experiences show that resettlement is not solely about moving people into safer houses. For now, Nepal is once again focusing on relief and recover as it responds to the current floods and landslides. In the long run, as resettlement plans come into focus, policymakers will need to consider how affected communities will be able to maintain their livelihoods, cultural practices, and social ties in their recovery and relocation plans.

About the Authors

Sara Shneiderman is Ivan Head South-North IDRC Chair and Associate Professor in anthropology and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. She is a socio-cultural anthropologist with long-term ethnographic commitments in the Himalayas and South Asia, and emerging research in British Columbia, Canada. Her work explores how social transformation is shaped by dynamics of citizenship and belonging; cross-border mobility; conflict and political mobilization; territory and land use; development discourses and practices; and disaster aftermath and preparedness.

This research is co-authored with Amy Leigh Johnson, Jeevan Baniya, Dipak Basnet, Nyima Dorjee Bhotia, Tek Bahadur Dong, Anuradha Puri, Jonathan Rigg, Mukta Tamang, and Katie Oven as part of the UKRI GCRF-funded Sajag-Nepal project (Grant numbers: NE/T01038X/1, NE/T009772/1 and NE/T009713/1).

Capri Kong is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She holds a BA degree and a Master’s degree from the University of British Columbia. Her current research studies the characteristics and dynamics of friendship networks among first- and second-generation immigrants and their influence on immigrants’ sense of belonging and integration into Canadian society.

Original Research

Shneiderman, Sara, Amy Leigh Johnson, Jeevan Baniya, Dipak Basnet, Nyima Dorjee Bhotia, Tek Bahadur Dong, Anuradha Puri, Jonathan Rigg, Mukta Tamang, and Katie Oven. “Circular resettlement and ongoing risk: earthquakes, landslides, and the challenges of “integrated” reconstruction in Nepal.” World Development 202 (2026): 107261.

Suggested Citation

Kong, Capri. 2026. “Navigating Home(s): Displacement and Resettlement in Nepal amid Ongoing Disaster Risks”. CMS Migration Insights Series. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

Beyond Big Cities: How to Encourage Immigrants to Settle in Rural and Remote Areas

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: How Digital Platforms Impact Migrant Gig Workers in Canada

Gig work is often celebrated as flexible, accessible employment for immigrant newcomers in Canada. However, recent research reveals how immigration policies and digital platforms deny newcomer gig workers basic social protection, trapping them in long-term precarity.

Immigrants now comprise roughly 35% of Canada’s gig workforce, particularly those who arrived recently. Struggling with unrecognized foreign credentials and strict visa limits, many turn to platform gig work for immediate income. However, Dr. María Cervantes-Macías argues this creates a “double exclusion,” denying newcomers essential social and workplace protections in both Canada and their home countries.

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“Platforms’ low barriers to entry attract newcomers struggling to find permanent jobs upon arrival, but also create challenges to building professional networks and lasting economic ties in Canada.”

María Cervantes-Macías

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UBC Centre for Migration Studies

Key Findings

Temporary migrants and recent immigrants make up a disproportionately large segment of Canada’s gig economy. Yet, they remain invisible in official statistics because digital platforms misclassify them as independent contractors rather than employees.
Facing barriers to credential recognition, these newcomers are pushed into more temporary, part-time jobs. Gig work, like food delivery and ridesharing, provides a low-barrier, accessible entry point into the Canadian labour market.
By its non-permanent nature, gig work traps newcomers in long-term precarity by denying them access to standard Canadian social protections like healthcare and employment insurance. It also prevents them from contributing to safety nets in their countries of origin.

Recommendations

The Canadian government should modernize labour policies to create portable social protections, such as healthcare and employment insurance. Labour policies should ensure temporary visa restrictions and gig work jobs do not exclude workers from social safety nets.
Community advocates and gig workers should collaborate with grassroots organizations like Gig Workers United to foster collective organizing and challenge systemic inequality in the platform economy.

Implications for Current Events

In January 2026, Statistics Canada reported that 667,000 Canadians (2.3%) between the ages of 15 and 69 earned income through digital platform work in 2025. That said, platform work is not found equally across all workers in Canada. More than 8% of immigrant newcomers who arrived in Canada within the previous five years reporting gig work experience, compared to only 1.5% of Canadian-born people. This means recent immigrants were about six times more likely to rely on platform work, with their participation increasing by 2.7% from the previous year.

Dr. María Cervantes-Macías’s research helps explain these dynamics. She finds that newcomers often face barriers like unrecognized foreign credentials, limited Canadian references, and temporary visa restrictions. Platform work offers a quick and flexible way to earn income despite these challenges. However, this accessibility comes at a cost. As workers registered as independent contractors, gig workers often lack access to basic employment protections, leaving many newcomers earning money but socially and legally unsupported.

About the Authors

María Cervantes-Macías is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Migration Studies and an Affiliate Member of the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. Her research explores how migration and digital labour are transforming Canadian cities, focusing on the everyday experiences of immigrant workers in the platform economy. She holds a PhD in Geography, also from the University of British Columbia.

Original Research

Cervantes-Macías, M. E. (2026). Uneven development in the platform economy: stratified immigration policies and uneven access to transnational social protections in North America. Digital Geography and Society, 100164.

Suggested Citation

Cervantes-Macías, María & Kong, Capri. 2026. “One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: How Digital Platforms Impact Migrant Gig Workers in Canada”. CMS Migration Insights Series. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

Deterrence Before Departure: How Australia’s Campaigns Seek to Discourage Asylum Seekers

Public information campaigns are often framed as humanitarian efforts to support vulnerable migrants. However, recent research reveals how governments manipulate cultural knowledge to deter asylum seekers before they even leave home.

Between 2000 and 2009, Afghan Hazara asylum seekers made up nearly half of the migrants who arrived in Australia by boat. In response, the Australian government funded cultural research to produce information campaigns, claiming to protect and inform them about the dangers of sea journeys. While framed as care, Dr. Helena Zeweri argues these campaigns used the community’s own values against them to deter migration.

Read the Brief

“In today’s security landscape, enforcement efforts not only aim to prevent migrants from crossing borders; they also aim to prevent the very desire to migrate from forming.”

Helena Zeweri

Assistant Professor, UBC Anthropology

Key Findings

The Afghan Hazara community has been one of the largest asylum-seeking populations in Australia. Between 2000 and 2009, Afghan Hazaras made up nearly half of those who sought refuge in Australia via ‘irregular’ sea routes.
In response, the Australian government commissioned research on the Hazara community in Afghanistan to develop targeted anti-migration public campaigns. These campaigns portrayed Hazara asylum seekers as ignorant of the dangers posed by smugglers, the boat journey, and even Australia’s offshore detention centres.
The campaigns developed a deterrence through cultural values approach. Depicted as care and protection, they framed migration as an irresponsible act that would inevitably fail, bringing shame and financial ruin to families.

Recommendations

Migration researchers should think carefully about how public information campaigns can keep asylum seekers from getting the help they need. If governments control research agendas, even research that is culturally sensitive can work to support strict border policies that exclude people seeking asylum.
Policymakers must recognize that migration deterrence cannot be done humanely. Whether through detention or public information campaigns, these measures punish and restrict asylum seekers from seeking protection.

Implications for Current Events

In May 2026, the European Commission announced the winners of €10 million in grants for projects developing public campaigns on irregular migration from countries such as Pakistan and Iraq to Europe. The funded projects aim to research the key influencers who shape migration aspirations – families, peers, and local actors – to subsequently reduce irregular migration by highlighting smuggling risks, encouraging legal pathways, and combating misinformation. In short, these grants aim to shape the choices of potential migrants and asylum seekers before they even decide to migrate.

Dr. Helena Zeweri’s research shows that public information campaigns are not new. Through an analysis of Australia’s 2014 public information campaigns targeting the Afghan Hazara community, she shows how the Australian government similarly commissioned research to understand the community and its cultural life and values. In Australia, this campaign included a graphic novel branded as a humanitarian effort to save lives. Yet, Zeweri finds that by depicting one’s search for safety as an act that brings shame and financial ruin to families, these campaigns actually exploited the community’s cultural values to deter people from ever aspiring to migrate.

About the Authors

Helena Zeweri is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Her research examines the social impact of Australia’s deterrence-based border regime, including Australia’s approach to migration deterrence through maritime surveillance, offshore detention, prolonged temporary status, and global messaging campaigns that stretch all the way back to migrant origin countries. Her research seeks to advance a more ethnographically and historically informed understanding of migration deterrence as concerned with migrant social worlds before and after arrival.

Original Research

Zeweri, Helena. 2024. “Disciplining Subjectivity in Australian Migrant Deterrence Campaigns.” Journal of Refugee Studies 37 (2): 534-551.

Suggested Citation

Kong, Capri. 2026. “Deterrence Before Departure: How Australia’s Campaigns Seek to Discourage Asylum Seekers”. CMS Migration Insights Series. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

Which Families Belong? Rethinking Canada’s Family Class Program

Living in Micro-Networks: How Korean Migrants Manage Social Networking and Belonging in Canada

For a recent wave of Korean labour immigrants in Canada, immigration was less about economic gain and more about achieving a quieter, less competitive way of life. However, a quieter life can also mean a decreased sense of belonging.

Fleeing a hyper-competitive culture, Korean labour migrants in Canada prioritize a balanced way of life. To do so, they engage in “micro-networking,” keeping their social circles small and private. While helpful in fostering work-life balance, Dr. Kyong Yoon’s research shows that micro-networking practices also limit newcomers’ access to integration, sometimes leading to professional dissatisfaction and loneliness.

Read the Brief

“Micro-networking helps Korean immigrants preserve the balanced lifestyle they sought in Canada, but it also isolates them from broader communities, leading to loneliness and professional unfulfillment.”

Kyong Yoon

Professor, UBC English and Cultural Studies

Key Findings

A recent wave of South Korean labour migrants is settling in Canada, motivated by a desire to escape the hyper-competitive culture of their homeland for a more relaxed, balanced lifestyle.
Once in Canada, Korean migrants tend to build small, private “micro-networks” composed of family and close friends due to perceived social pressure and language barriers.
While this micro-networking strategy supports their desired lifestyle, it also leads to challenges like underemployment, loneliness, and a weakened sense of social belonging in Canada.

Recommendations

Governments should recognize that immigrants do not follow a single, uniform path to social and economic integration. It is important to support newcomers in building social connections without imposing a one-size-fits-all program or practice.
Settlement agencies should acknowledge and address barriers that limit migrants’ sense of belonging and ability to connect with broader immigrant and local communities.

Implications for Current Events

According to the 2025 World Happiness Report, Canada has fallen to 18th place globally, continuing a downward trend from its top-five ranking in 2015. Defining well‑being not only by economic conditions but also by the strength of social relationships, trust, and everyday forms of connection, the report found that these relational foundations are weakening in Canada. These findings raise concerns about how newcomers navigate their search for connection, social support, and a sense of belonging after arriving in Canada.

Dr. Kyong Yoon examines this dynamic through the experiences of recent Korean labour immigrants in Canada. Many came to Canada seeking relief from Korea’s intense social pressures and hoping to secure a more relaxed lifestyle. Once in Canada, they adopted “micro‑networking” strategies—intentionally maintaining small, private social circles to avoid perceived pressures and competitiveness with local Korean communities. While they found quieter lives, Yoon shows how small social circles coupled with structural barriers like language also led to underemployment, loneliness, and a weakened sense of belonging.

About the Authors

Kyong Yoon is Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. His research focuses on digital media, migration, and Korean pop culture. His recent publications include Digital Mediascapes of Transnational Korean Youth Culture (Routledge, 2020), Transnational Hallyu: The Globalization of Korean Digital and Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2021), Diasporic Hallyu: The Korean Wave in Korean Canadian Youth Culture (Palgrave, 2022), and East Asian Media Culture in the Age of Digital Platforms: Narratives, Industries, and Audiences (Routledge, 2026).

Original Research

Yoon, Kyong. 2025. “Living in Micro-networks: Korean Migrants’ Social Networking Practices in Canadian Cities.” International Migration 63 (3).

Suggested Citation

Kong, Capri. 2026. “Living in Micro-Networks: How Korean Migrants Manage Social Networking and Belonging in Canada” CMS Migration Insights Series. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

Is the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement Doing What It Is Supposed to Do?

Migrant Integration Services in Canada: Adapting to the Changing Landscape

One Label, Many Realities: ‘Birth Tourism’ and the Lived Realities of Non-resident Mothers in Canada

For many non-resident mothers, giving birth in Canada is not entirely about taking advantage of the system—it reflects a more complex migration and family planning story. Yet, political debates persistently frame them as “birth tourists.”

Dr. Amanda Cheong and PhD candidate Hilal Kina conducted interviews with non-resident mothers who had previously given birth in Canada. Their research shows that rather than a uniform group of strategic citizenship-seekers, many non-resident mothers give birth while working, during studies, as asylum claimants, or because of instability and violence in their home countries.

Read the Brief

“Legislative efforts to restrict birthright citizenship risk excluding diverse families with varied reasons for migrating and having children in Canada. Despite its flaws, territorial birthright remains essential and should be protected.”

Amanda Cheong

Assistant Professor, UBC Sociology

Key Findings

Non-resident mothers give birth in Canada for various reasons. Often lumped together as birth tourists, these births can be accidental, strategic, or simply incidental to women’s personal and professional goals in Canada.
Women’s reproductive journeys are also shaped by structural factors. Many non-resident mothers give birth in Canada due to factors in their homeland, like fleeing violence or political instability or delays in Canada’s immigration system.
Current estimates on birth tourism rates are misleading. Existing methods use hospital billing codes, which lump together a range of non-residents including international students and asylum seekers—many of whom do not fit the definition of a birth tourist.

Recommendations

Governments should move beyond hospital billing codes when assessing birth tourism. They should invest in understanding the broader structural conditions that shape non-resident families’ reproduction decisions.
Canada’s birthright citizenship should be protected. Birthright citizenship is essential to ensuring that all residents of Canada are afforded rights and to fostering the long-term inclusion of families who contribute to society.

Implications for Current Events

In 2024, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data registered 5,430 “other country resident self-pay” births in Canadian hospitals—more than double the pandemic-era average of 2,339, and approximately 2% of all hospital births. Political attention to non-resident births prompted an amendment to Bill C-3 to eliminate automatic birthright citizenship unless one parent is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. However, using only the hospital code to measure possible cases of birth tourism ignores many temporary immigration status holders do not fit the definition of a “birth tourist”.

Dr. Amanda Cheong and her colleagues’ research responds directly to this tension. Drawing on interviews with non-resident mothers in Canada, their study shows that motivations and circumstances behind non-resident mothers’ births are far more varied than the label implies. While some mothers deliberately planned their births in Canada for citizenship purposes, many others were seeking asylum or working or studying in Canada at the time they gave birth. As such, they argue that hospital-code estimates overstate the phenomenon and overlook the diverse experiences of non-resident mothers in Canada.

About the Authors

Amanda Cheong is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. Her research focuses on how legal status and documents shape people’s lives, particularly in Southeast Asia and in North America. Her research has been published in International Migration Review, Social Problems, and Ethnic and Racial Studies. She is writing a book about the experiences of stateless individuals in Malaysia. She earned her BA at the University of British Columbia and her PhD at Princeton University.

Hilal Kina is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Hilal’s doctoral research centers on dispossession, systemic marginalization and everyday resistance, particularly within the context of Armenians in Turkey. Hilal’s MA work focused on the role of collective apologies in post-conflict settings. Hilal has been actively involved in initiatives supporting social justice, decolonization and Indigenous self-determination in various contexts.

Original Research

Cheong, Amanda R., Megan Gaucher, Jing Li, Stephanie Nedoshytko, Jamie Chai Yun Liew, Angela M. Contreras-Chavez, Hilal Kina, Nikita McDavid, and David Brush. 2025. “Unpacking ‘Birth Tourism’: Incidental Citizenship and the Diverse Migration and Reproduction Trajectories of Nonresident Mothers in Canada.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 51 (17): 4299-4319.

Suggested Citation

Kong, Capri. 2026. “One Label, Many Realities: ‘Birth Tourism’ and the Lived Realities of Non-resident Mothers in Canada” CMS Migration Insights Series. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Migration Insights Series. The research briefs synthesize peer-reviewed, published academic research by CMS affiliates.

How will Bill C-12 impact Canadian immigration and refugee protection?

On March 26, 2026, Bill C-12: Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act became law. It reshapes Canada’s refugee claims system, expands government discretion over immigration documents, and increases government power to share personal information.

Read the explainer to understand what’s in the bill, why it was introduced, and what it means for refugee claimants, temporary migrants, and community organizations.

Download the explainer

Why does this matter?

The government says Bill C-12 will reduce backlogs, close loopholes in immigration rules, deter misuse of the refugee system, and make processes more efficient. However, migrant rights and civil society organizations argue it will:

Undermine refugee protection and procedural fairness
Exacerbate vulnerability for temporary residents and people seeking protection
Broaden executive discretion and sharing of personal data
Shift or even increase (rather than reduce) backlogs
Erode legal and constitutional protections

About the author

Lisa Ruth Brunner, PhD, is a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies. She studies immigration, citizenship, and education, with expertise in international student mobility, multi-step migration, and refugee resettlement. She has over fifteen years of professional experience in newcomer settlement in Canada and the U.S. and has been a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant since 2014.

Suggested citation

Brunner, Lisa Ruth. 2026. “How will Bill C-12 impact Canadian immigration and refugee protection?” Immigration Policy Decoded (No. 2026-01). Vancouver: University of British Columbia Centre for Migration Studies.

Document details

This publication is part of the CMS Immigration Policy Decoded Series.

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