Episode 34: The Expat Illusion

Let’s call it what it is: the word ‘expat’ is often just a softer label for privilege.

In this episode, we dig into the uncomfortable truth about how people with wealth, whiteness, and status are given one title, while others — arriving under nearly identical circumstances — are labeled ‘immigrants’, and carry the negative weight that word holds.

We unpack how these labels are not harmless, how they shape public perception, opportunity, and belonging, and how the language of migration quietly reinforces systems of power. If movement is a human right, why is it branded so differently based on who you are?

It’s time to shatter the illusion.

Episode Sources
Canada's next government will have to deal with an immigration system that has 'lost its brand' - Financial Post
Expatriate Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Who counts as a migrant? Definitions and their consequences - The Migration Observatory, University of Oxford
How Noah Webster invented the word ‘immigration - JSTOR
The difference between an ‘expat’ and an ‘immigrant’? Semantics - BBC
Why are white people expats while the rest of us are immigrants? - The Guardian
Money, race and power: The origins of the expatriate - Migration and (Im)mobility Magazine
Is the Word “Expat” Inherently Biased? - Frenchly
France’s big pivot - Forbes Magazine

Quiz Sources
Here’s where Canadians are living abroad - CTV
The Henley Passport Index - Henley and Partners