The Department of Health and Society offers its congratulations to Associate Professor Laura Bisaillon on winning a prestigious national award from the Canadian Studies Network.
Prof. Bisaillon has been awarded the CSN Best Book Prize for her book Screening Out: HIV Screening and the Canadian Immigration Experience (2022, UBC Press).
Screening Out explores the medico-legal and administrative practices governing immigration to Canada, following the application process of a woman from sub-Saharan Africa and her interactions with doctors, state officials and bureaucrats. Bisaillon argues mandatory HIV screening involves a set of institutional practices that are highly problematic for immigrants living with HIV.
The CSN award committee praised Prof. Bisaillon’s work, describing the accounts contained within the book as “moving and eloquent.” The award recognizes outstanding scholarship on a Canadian subject that advances knowledge and understanding of Canadian society.
“This book brings the reader to reflect on a sensitive critique of Canada’s immigration policies and public health issues for deciding on medical (in)admissibility,” they added. “Through an ethnography of different immigration experiences involving HIV screening, Professor Bisaillon presents an analysis of the governance rules that inform the reception experience and, ultimately, call into question the collective imagination that has arisen around the sociopolitical representation of Canada.”
“This is important recognition from my scholarly peers, jurors in the humanities and social sciences,” said Prof. Bisaillon. “The book was also a Canadian Sociology Book Award (2023) winner. Screening Out provides evidence to support claims that serious problems occur with how doctors, lawyers and bureaucrats do their immigration medical-related work inside and outside Canada. I point to specific places where reform is needed. I offer do-able recommendations. My book is currently informing a constitutional challenge in the Federal Court to s. 38(1)(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, specifically the excessive demands medical inadmissibility provision. I am thrilled with the scholarly recognition and practical application of my analysis of our immigration system's medical program.”