Project Overview
It is important to understand how workers, and immigrant workers in particular, are represented within discourses on the platform economy, given their potentially marginalized position in Canadian society and gig work more broadly.
This project examines discourses on gig work and investigates the experiences of immigrants engaged in different facets of the platform economy, as well as those employed in remote work.
The focus is on the everyday occupational experiences of immigrant platform workers, exploring how they perceive and navigate non-traditional forms of employment and daily routines, and situating these experiences within broader contemporary discourses on gig work.
Research Questions
- What discourses are shaping the platform economy?
- What contextual factors shape the occupational experiences of immigrant workers within the platform economy?
- How does engaging in platform and/or remote work reconfigure traditional borders and boundaries in immigrants’ lives?
- In what ways do platform and/or remote workers nagivate “occupational balance” among the different revenue-generating occupations they engage in?
Methods
This project will conduct a critical discourse analysis to identify dominant themes and subjectivities constructed through relevant texts. Next, a series of interviews will be conducted with immigrant platform/remote workers from across Canada.
Collaborators
UBC Centre for Migration Studies
- Principal Investigator: Suzanne Huot (Assistant Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy)
- María Cervantes (Postdoctoral Research Fellow)
Toronto Metropolitan University
- Marshia Akbar (Affiliated Researcher, Sociology, Director, BMO Newcomer Workforce Integration Lab, CERC in Migration and Integration)
- Samantha Jackson (Research Associate, Postdoctoral Research Fellow)
- Hari KC (Research Associate, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, CERC in Migration and Integration)
- Aziz Rahman (Research Affiliate, CERC in Migration and Integration)
- Anna Triandafyllidou (Professor & Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration, Sociology)
Concordia University
- Émile Baril (Research Associate, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Political Science)
Research Assistants
- Roxanne Angel Bella (Master’s Student, Geography, UBC)
- Ryan Feng (Master’s Student, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC)
- Veronica Hernandez-De Paoli (Master’s Student, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC)
- Vaida Kiaulakyte (Undergraduate Student, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC)
- Alexa Krywulak (Undergraduate Student, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC)
- Jessie Kwan (Master’s Student, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC)
- Isabella Pojuner (Doctoral Student, Geography, UBC)
- Reeham Siddique (Doctoral Student, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC)
- Selvana Soreal (Undergraduate Student, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, UBC)
- Luke Stockall (Undergraduate Student, Urban Studies, UBC)
Outputs
Jackson, S., & Huot, S. (2025). Working from (a New) Home: Tensions Faced by Remote Working Immigrants in Canada. Societies, 15(10), 271. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15100271
Baril, Émile, & Vultur, M. (2025). Navigating Streets, Restaurants, and Algorithms: A Study of Young Immigrant Food Delivery Couriers in Montréal and Toronto. Labour Le Travail, 95, 121–144. https://doi.org/10.52975/llt.2025v95.007
Cervantes-Macías, M. E. 2025. “ The Production of Credentialized Aspirations: Familial Strategies in Mexican Upper-Middle-Class International Mobility.” Population, Space and Place 31: 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.70142
Cervantes-Macías, M. E. Uneven development in the platform economy: Stratified immigration policies and uneven access to transnational social protections in North America, Digital Geography and Society, 2026, 100164, ISSN 2666-3783. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diggeo.2026.100164
"Comics and Knowledge Mobilization in Migration Studies," presented by María Cervantes, UBC Comics Cluster, November 27, 2025.
"Immigration, Work and New Technologies: Access to the Labour Market & Workforce Dynamics," presented at the 13th Annual Pathways to Prosperity National Conference: Investing in Canada’s Shared Future, November 24, 2025
"Immigrant Workers and the Digital Transformation of Work: Spatial Precarity and Urban Labour in Toronto and Vancouver," presented by María Cervantes and Suzanne Huot, 13th Annual Pathways to Prosperity National Conference: Investing in Canada’s Shared Future, November 24, 2025
"Comparison of Migrant Food Delivery Riders in France and Canada", presented by Émile Baril, On the Move: Migrant Workers and Food-Delivery Platforms in Italy and Canada, IRMS, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, November 7, 2025
"Digital Platforms and Transnational Social Protections: Uneven Territorialization in the Digital Economy," presented by María Cervantes, Cartographies of Platform Labour in the Digital City, Madrid, Spain, November 6, 2025
"Digital Platforms and Transnational Social Protections: Uneven Territorialization in the Digital Economy," presented by María Cervantes, Digital Geographies Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, November 3, 2025
"Workers’ Workshops on Migrant Experiences in Platform and Remote Work", Vancouver, Canada, October 25 & October 27, 2025
"Digital Platforms and Transnational Social Protections: Uneven Territorialization in the Digital Economy," presented by María Cervantes, Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference, Birmingham, UK, August 28, 2025
“Immigrants’ engagement in remote and gig work occupations: Critically examining the spatial transformation of the ‘workplace’ through a mobilities lens”, presented by Suzanne Huot, María Cervantes, and Samantha Jackson, Occupational Science Europe Conference, Essex, United Kingdom, August 15, 2025
“Immigrants’ occupational experiences of remote and hybrid work in Canada”, presented by K. Kiaulakyte, K. Krywulak, S. Soreal, S. Jackson, and S. Huot, Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists Conference, Edmonton, Canada, May 7, 2025
“Uneven development in the digital economy: The new landscape of transnational social protections”, presented by María Cervantes, American Association of Geographers Conference, Detroit, United States, March 27, 2025
"Adjustment, Balance and Belonging Among Newcomers Engaged in Remote Work in Canada”, presented by Samantha Jackson and Suzanne Huot, 27th Canadian Ethnic Studies Association Biennial Conference, Edmonton, Canada, November 15, 2024
"Addressing remote work challenges faced by newcomers to Canada” poster, presented by Samantha Jackson and Suzanne Huot, Pathways to Prosperity Annual Conference, Vancouver, Canada, November 14, 2024
"Migration Disrupted: How Technological Transformation is Reshaping Human Mobility", Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada, May 7, 2024
Project Status
This project is currently in the Data Analysis and Knowledge Mobilization phases.
Featured News
This research was undertaken thanks in part to funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.
