Analysing the Impact of the GCM in Canada Through the Lens of Mobility Facilitation: An Invitation to Rethink the GCM’s Potential to Advance the Human Rights of Migrants

The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) has been presented as a milestone in embedding migration governance within an international human rights framework. This article critically examines the extent to which this ambition has translated into concrete effects by analysing the Canadian case. Drawing on a legal doctrinal and contextual policy analysis, informed by the concept of mobility facilitation, the article shows that the GCM has had a limited impact on Canadian migration policies. Despite sustained international commitment to the Compact, recent developments reveal a regression in the facilitation of mobility and the protection of migrants’ rights. This regression has not been reflected in Canada’s international reporting, exposing a disjunction between national practices and international positioning and calling into question the GCM’s capacity to generate international accountability. This article argues that the limited effectiveness of the GCM cannot be explained solely by the shortcomings of its implementation and review mechanisms but must also be understood in light of the unfavourable political context. Moving beyond a compliance-centred perspective, it contends that the GCM should also be understood as lending itself to an indirect form of mobilisation, capable of functioning as a counter-narrative to dominant criminalising and securitising approaches.