Immigrants’ Voice through Protest Politics in Canada and Australia: Assessing the Impact of Pre-Migration Political Repression

This paper examines immigrant participation in protest politics in Canada and Australia. It focuses on the related impact of immigrants’ pre-migration experience of political repression. Three main findings emerge. First, immigrants from repressive regimes abstain more from protest politics than those from non-repressive regimes. Second, the higher the degree of repression in the country of origin, the more likely immigrants are to abstain from protest politics. Third, even after living for 30 years in the host country, some groups of immigrants continue to abstain from protest politics to a greater degree than the local population. This article contributes, therefore, to two understudied aspects of immigrants’ political adaptation: immigrant participation in protest activities and the impact of their pre-migration experiences.