Guilty Until Proven Prosecuted: The Canadian State’s Assessment of Sexual Minority Refugee Claimants and the Invisibility of the non-Western Sexual Non-Citizen

Through the granting of refugee status to victims of sexual persecution, the Canadian government simultaneously acknowledges and scorns the human rights practices of other states, while also assuring refugees that Canada is a modern, safer alternative. Canada is safe, however, only for those non-citizens—current and future—who adhere to Canada’s sexual customs, regulations, and norms. This paper explores the Canadian state’s use of Western understandings of sexuality and discrimination to assess the validity of refugee claims of sexual persecution. Ultimately, this paper questions the current Canadian refugee system’s dependency on a rigid conception of sexuality and discrimination, and explores the implications this has for non-Western sexual minorities.