An Emerging Canadian-Scandinavian Policy Dialogue: The Case of Immigration and Integration Policy

While some countries have been regarded as borrowers of policies from other countries, others have been classified as lenders. While the latter categorization often has been assigned to the Scandinavian countries, Canada has normally been described as a borrower in the public policy literature. Although much prior research has argued that the respective roles as borrower and lender seldom change, this is far from a universal rule. For instance, the Canadian immigration and integration policy model served as an inspirational model in Denmark, Norway and Sweden during the reassessment of their immigration and integration policies during the 2000-2012 period. However, the relationship is not unidirectional. The paper argues that the frequent and persisting contacts between Canadian and Scandinavian actors within this area of public policy have prompted a policy dialogue embodying signs of mutual adaptation and co-evolution of policies across the Atlantic.