Defying Higher Education Borders with Migrant Students in Canada: Building Counterstories and Sanctuary Universities

This book explores migrant students’ struggles for equitable access to higher education in Canada, focusing on a first-of-its-kind bridging program at York University.
Through the concepts of ＂bordering＂ and ＂countering,＂ Villegas and Aberman examine how students excluded due to immigration status resisted systemic barriers by forming supportive classroom communities and challenging dominant narratives. Providing essential insights for educators, policymakers, and advocates seeking to build more inclusive and just higher education systems, this book reveals how everyday acts of resistance can transform exclusion into opportunity and reimagine universities as sanctuaries.

Paloma E. Villegas is associate professor of critical migration studies in the Department of Sociology at California State University, San Bernardino.
Tanya Aberman is the coordinator of the Sanctuary Scholars programs at York University and Toronto Metropolitan University.