The Ethics of Citizen Selection of Refugees for Resettlement - Event at UofT

Patti Tamara Lenard from the University of Ottawa will be delivering a talk on the ethics of citizen selection of refugees for settlement at the Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto, on January 16, 2019, from 12:30-2pm.

"In this talk, I consider the ethics of one particular way of selecting refugees for resettlement, that is, by giving citizens the driver’s seat in selecting refugees for admission to resettlement. I ask whether it is morally acceptable to permit citizens to name specific refugees for resettlement, under the condition that they are willing to support – financially and emotionally – those whom they name. I argue, ultimately, that there are moral goods that derive from permitting citizens to select refugees for admission, but that they do not outweigh the importance of offering scarce resettlement spots to those who are most in need. Therefore, any refugee admission scheme that permits citizens to select refugees must constrain those who can be named for admission to those who are most in need. I conclude with some proposals for how this can be achieved." - Patti Tamara Lenard 

Registration for the event is now open.