Theorizing Invisible Migrants: The case of Nonreligious White French Immigrants in Montréal and Toronto, Canada

In contrast to literature on religion and migration that has often recently emphasized Muslims (with metaphors of “tides” or prevailing “Muslim questions”), this paper takes up a contrasting case to theorize the ease experienced by nonreligious white migrants. Specifically, we consider post-2016 white French nonreligious immigrants, the most important immigrant group to Québec and among the most important to Ontario, Canada. Methodologically, we draw upon: (1) literature addressing the privilege and banality of the nonreligious (Le Renard 2019; Oliphant 2021) and intersecting whiteness (Ahmed 2007; Beaman 2019; Lépinard 2020); (2) fieldwork and interviews with French immigrants in Montreal and Toronto; and (3) critical discourse analyses of immigration policies and bilateral agreements. We consider how intersections of whiteness and nonreligion individualize and mainstream them, while prevailing narratives of cosmopolitanism, economic need, shared culture, and the perceived absence of religiosity invisibilize them.