The Research Alliance on Precarious Status (RAPS) is a Toronto-based network of researchers in various disciplines and settings interested in precarious non-citizenship status in Canada.  Consistent with global trends, the precarious status population in Canada is growing, however, reliable figures are not available.  Estimates of the non-status population range from 20,000 to 600,000.  Rather than ignoring or sensationalizing precarious status, including migrant “illegality,” we argue for understanding the everyday lives of people with precarious status, and critically analyzing the impacts and roles of this population in terms of their needs and demands for publicly funded services, limited rights, and vulnerabilities; their impact on schools, the health care system, and public health; their role in the economy and specific sectors and occupations; the ways in which employers and other institutional actors gain from their presence; and the impacts of precarious status on citizenship and social justice in Canadian society. 

Emerging research offers innovative perspectives on the production, institutionalization, negotiation and impacts of variable forms of precarious status, and on community efforts to form alliances and mobilize around the issue.  This website is designed as a forum for sharing research and information, and connecting with other researchers, advocates and networks.  It is also intended as a resource for informing public debate on questions of immigration policy, citizenship, public policy, public services, and labour markets.