Kate Motluk

My research focuses on issues of forced migration and carceral control. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies. My MA was in Geography at Wilfrid Laurier University. My thesis, Containment & COVID-19 in the Settler State, examined responses to the COVID-19 in carceral spaces across Canada and Australia.

Prior to attending graduate school, I worked as the Toronto Chapter Lead for the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program, a pro-bono legal clinic, and as a Project Coordinator for the Toronto based non-profit Lifeline Syria. While serving with these organizations, I assisted with the file management and submission of over 400 private sponsorship refugee applications to the Canadian government.

I hold a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral award. I have previously held an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Publications

Motluk, K. (2024). The imagined island: Colonialism and constructed remoteness on Diego Garcia. The Geographical Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12587

Motluk, K. (2024). Abolition as a Tool of Decolonization: Undoing Contemporary Colonial Violence in Canadian Carceral Spaces. Canadian Settler Colonialism: Reliving the Past, Opening New Paths. https://opentextbooks.uregina.ca/canadiansettlercolonialism/chapter/abol...

Motluk, K. (2023). Refugee Responsibility-Sharing Deals Are Eroding Access to Asylum. PKI Global Justice Journal, 7(6). https://globaljustice.queenslaw.ca/news/special-issue-on-refugee-respons...

Supervisor

Dr. Alison Mountz