Rethinking Complex Migration: Flows, Frames, and Futures

April 15 -17, 2026 , At Toronto Metropolitan University

Launch event: April 15, 2026, 5–8 PM EDT

Venue : Sears Atrium- George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, Third Floor , 245 Church St, Toronto, ON M5B 2R2

Conference program:

April 16, 2026, 9 AM-6 PM EDT

April 17, 2026, 9 AM - 5:30 PM EDT

Venue : Oakham House, 55 Gould St, Toronto, ON M5B 1E9

Overview

International migration is increasingly diverging from the neat categories that policy and scholarship use to describe it. Unlike the past, when migration was thought to be a linear trajectory from a country of origin to a country of destination, with the intention of settlement, migration today is becoming more complex, often involving multiple journeys and under different policy categories. Migrants today do not easily fit the policy categories of labour migrant, refugee, or international student – they tend to have mixed motivations: economic, political, and family-related. Digital mobility further complicates migration: digital nomads have emerged as a new type of lifestyle migration while many migrant workers are engaged in digital platforms to provide their services to overseas employers. Further, international migration is often intertwined with internal migration or forced displacement making it even more difficult to fit human mobility into legal structures of ‘safe, orderly and regular’ migration.

This conference offers a reflection on what is considered ‘regular’ or ‘normal’ migration, and what is now viewed as ‘complex’ migration, through a series of dedicated plenary panels. We will examine the weaponization of migration and the emergence of migration diplomacy in an increasingly unstable world. We will also offer analytical reflections on the dimensions of complexity that characterize migration and its governance today. The conference also presents two sets of panels discussing different methodologies in studying complex migration – big data and AI on one hand, and participatory creative methods on the other.

This conference serves as the concluding annual event of the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration program at Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as the Inaugural Conference of the Global Migration Institute at TMU.

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