Mapping Public Responses to the “Refugee Crisis”: Who Claims what in Heidelberg and Ottawa/Gatineau?

Abstract

Despite their very different histories, ideologies of nationhood, and experiences with immigrant and refugee integration in 2015-2016, Germany and Canada both struggled with the sudden arrival of newcomers. This chapter maps public responses to the so-called refugee crisis in the Rhein-Neckar Metropolitan Region in Germany and the (French and English bilingual) National Capital Region in Canada. Taking local newspapers as an approximation of public space, we ask: who claims what for or against (which kind of) migrants/refugees? Our research shows that politicians and members of diverse civil society organizations are most successful in making their voice heard, while migrants/refugees are seldom allowed to speak for themselves. We also find that public discourse in both local contexts is overwhelmingly supportive of refugees with the specific claims made by civil society actors in both regions being reflective of the highly divergent refugee integration schemes at the national/federal level.