Abstract

In its examination of older immigrants’ experiences, the literature concentrates on their hardships and challenges but seldom on their positive attitude, strategies, and active adaptation and resistance. My interpretive qualitative study fills the gap by highlighting and analyzing their performance of agency and autonomy to challenge forced dependence and systemic power and their pursuit of a meaningful existence with dignity. My study findings reveal that most sponsored parents/grandparents (PGPs) exhibit a positive outlook on their life in Canada and demonstrate robust agency, autonomy, and cultural capital in three ways—individually, in small groups, and through community engagement and its building. I argue that the PGP program reflects embedded neoliberal friction: A state claims to facilitate self-government and self-reliance among the governed but fails to nurture their agency and enhance their independence by eschewing its collective responsibility, which undermines their well-being. My study calls for and recommends more sustainable immigration and settlement policies and programs to facilitate their aging well.