2009 Trudeau Scholar

mark-lawrence.santiago@trudeaufoundation.net

Profile

Having grown up in the Philippines with a father who worked overseas, Lawrence considers himself a child and a student of global migration. His research addresses an urgent social and economic phenomenon in the Philippines today - the large scale migration of its health care work force seeking better employment opportunities in more developed economies such as Canada. As this research will study the tremendous social implications of such migrations for the Philippines, it likewise promises to review the other side of the migration, in Canada. On the Canadian side, issues include the promotion and preservation of Canadian values -- global development, human rights and justice for its Filipino nurse migrants and their families -- , as well as equity for Canadian society and its citizens.  In the end, he is hoping that his research can contribute to the formulation of improved education, health, labor and migration policies both in Canada and in the Philippines, and can incite the two countries to become global models for the ethical and sustainable recruitment of health workers.

Lawrence's doctoral dissertation project studies state and international policies influencing the ethical and sustainable recruitment of healthcare workers from the developing world. It will be based on an ongoing extensive 18-month global ethnographic fieldwork in Canada, the United States, the Philippines and Geneva from July 2009-December 2010. The project responds to a basic ethical question: how do we justly distribute health human resources across state borders through ethically sound policies? Lawrence studied Philosophy at the National University of Singapore, where he received a Research Scholarship and at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he graduated as Class Valedictorian. He is the initiator of Pacific Worlds in Motion, a global interdisciplinary graduate conference on Asian Migrations held at Green and St. John's College, UBC, in March 2008 and reincarnated at the National University of Singapore in March 2009, and again at UBC in June 2010. He began this conference to encourage mentorship among graduate students and senior scholars in the field of Asia Pacific migration studies.

Trudeau Foundation Themes

Human Rights and Social Justice »
Canada and the World »
Responsible Citizenship »