Fostering life or choking life: neoliberal frictions and experiences of sponsored older immigrants in Canada

Purpose Canada dramatically revised its parents/grandparents (PGP) immigration sponsorship program in 2014. The extended 20-year sponsoring period may greatly affect their quality of life and well-being. A study of the effects of PGP policy on sponsored older immigrants is necessary to determine their needs and facilitate their well-being. By exploring their lived experiences, this study aims to promote policy changes and ensure the care needs of a diverse aging population are met, thereby facilitating inclusive aging strategies and social care approaches that are essential for a just society. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on an interpretive qualitative research design. 40 in-depth interviews, including 26 with sponsored Chinese parents, 12 with sponsoring offspring and 2 with social workers, were conducted. Findings Intergenerational relations and housing arrangements are the two key factors that affect sponsored PGPs’ satisfaction with life and well-being. Sponsored PGPs who desire and achieve independence typically lead a more satisfying existence than those who rely financially on children and co-reside with them. The PGP program has not facilitated their self-reliance, and its forced dependence, especially through limiting universal seniors’ benefits and denial of social assistance, makes PGPs’ lives harder, undermines their autonomy and well-being, and expands poverty, elder abuse and neglect, and isolation. Research limitations/implications This study is specific to sponsored PGPs from China immigrating to Canada, so its findings may not apply to other ethnic communities or settings. I suggest future comparative studies of sponsored PGPs from other countries with family reunification traditions. Practical implications Forced dependence, especially through the denial of social assistance and the limiting of senior benefits, makes the lives of sponsored PGPs harder, deepens the gap between their desired independence and actual independence, weakens their agency and autonomy and undermines their government of the self. The PGP program cannot grant sponsored PGPs entrepreneurial spirit and facilitate their self-reliance, satisfaction with life and well-being; instead, it leads to intergenerational conflict, sometimes damaging family bonds and inhibits the possibility of independent housing for PGPs, especially for those less well-off, thus deepening social problems such as EAN, mental health issues, poverty and isolation. Social implications The PGP immigration program especially its forced dependence, targets sponsored PGPs, intertwined with other stigmatizing dynamics such as ageism, racism and worthiness in the state’s power relations, not only enables the state to download its collective responsibility onto immigrant families, but also justifies its othering and discriminatory practices on sponsored older immigrants by problematizing their age, health and living ability, indicating Canada’s immigration regime remains racialized and racializing. Originality/value This study contributes conceptually and empirically to governmentality perspectives on immigration policy and immigrant governance, especially by illuminating the neoliberal frictions in the governance of sponsored older immigrants and revealing a new “minimalist biopolitics” in the form of “dependent biopolitics.” It expands and deepens understanding of later-life immigration and the complexities facing immigrant families, promotes policy changes and service improvements, and contributes to reducing social problems.