July 8, 2012, Toronto Sun: Second World War not over for would-be Canadian - It’s pretty hard to believe that Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney would
tell the daughter of a Canadian war veteran in Vancouver that her
father, who was born in Canada and had never set foot out of the country
until it asked him to go to war, was not, in fact, a Canadian citizen
but a British subject.
Insulting, degrading ... and wrong. This is a theme Kenney and Citizenship and Immigration (CIC) have been
pushing for some time. It’s not just a slip of the tongue or a
misunderstanding, but a considered view to which the government is
apparently committed. Or, as Jason Kenney told Jackie Scott, who confronted him: “(Soldiers)
are heroes, but at the time they were British subjects.” He said prior
to 1947 there was no such thing as a “Canadian” citizen. Click here for more...
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| Jackie Scott in a recent photo. The Canadian government will not grant her citizenship because she was born out of wedlock. |
May 10, 2012: 1940s document key to citizenship for Lost Canadian Jackie Scott: “Absurd injustice” denies citizenship to War Bride children - A Surrey, B.C. woman who arrived in Canada in 1948 with her War Bride mother is now fighting for her citizenship in the Federal Court. A document from the 1940s recently discovered in the Library and Archives in Ottawa could hold the key to citizenship for Jackie Scott and others, known as Lost Canadians, who are excluded from citizenship because they were born out of wedlock outside Canada before 1947. Jackie Scott was born in England in 1945 to a Canadian father and a British mother. She was born out of wedlock because her father, a Canadian soldier of the Second World War, could not get the required permission to marry. Such cases were common and inevitable under wartime conditions. Click here for more....
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| Jackie Scott with her parents at Niagara Falls in 1948. |
May 10,2012 - Status of Illegitimate Child 1948: A ruling has been received from the Citizenship Branch concerning the status of an illegitimate child whose father is a Canadian citizen. The case upon which the ruling is based is as follows: “A Canadian born citizen was living in the United States out of wedlock with an American born woman. They had an illegitimate child born in the United States. Subsequent to the birth of the child (three weeks thereafter) the parents were married. The father returned to Canada and his wife and child later applied for entry to join him. Our examining officer at the port of entry took the view that the child, having been born out of wedlock, came under Part 1, Section 4, (b) of the Canadian Citizenship Act, deriving citizenship from his mother. Therefore, the child was regarded as an immigrant, of American citizenship, and admitted as such. However, when the facts were submitted to the Citizenship Branch for review the Registrar furnished the following ruling:- Click here for more....
March 16, 2012: Vancouver Observer: Lifelong Canadians face discrimination by their own government...still - Advocates for Lost Canadians – those excluded from citizenship because of obscure legal loopholes – are asking questions after citizenship and immigration minister Jason Kenney seemingly admitted to discrimination recently at a press conference. Click here for more... March 8, 2012: Vancouver Observer - Discriminatory laws against unwed mothers leave Lost Canadian Ken Smith out in the cold - Ken Smith and his wife Liz Johnston love to travel. But recently, planning a vacation has become a nearly impossible task. “Lately, we’ve had some problems at the border because of my weird situation, where I can’t say I’m Canadian but I’ve lived here the majority of my life,” said Smith. The 68-year-old White Rock resident is one of a number of Lost Canadians, excluded from citizenship due to the country’s archaic laws. Despite having lived in Canada since 1945, he’s been rejected twice by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. And ever since border security ramped up after 9/11 he says he’s had terrible experiences with customs officials. Click here for more...
Lost Canadians Say Citizenship a Battle for Women’s Rights - As Canada prepares to observe International Women’s Day on Thursday, some Canadians are still excluded from citizenship solely because they were born to unwed mothers over 65 years ago. They are part of a group known as Lost Canadians: people who are excluded from citizenship or are having difficulty claiming it because of the date or circumstances of their birth. Click here for more....
February 23, 2012: Lost Canadians sue government over discriminatory citizenship - While speaking at a press conference in Surrey, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney stated that the government does not deny citizenship based on age, gender or marital status. Yet these factors are at the heart of problem for "Lost Canadians", who are taking the federal government to court over its refusal to grant citizenship to victims of Canada's discriminatory laws of the past. Click here for more....January 28, 2012: Vancouver Observer - Daughter of Canadian war veteran, Jackie Scott, denied citizenship by Canada. Again - Jackie Scott was trembling as she waited for the FedEx envelope from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. When she started reading out the letter that accompanied the citizenship applications that she had sent two years ago, tears sprang to her eyes. She had been denied citizenship. Again. Click here for more...
August 8, 2011 - Vancouver Observer: Lost Canadians to take Canadian government to court, advocate tells war vets - As Lost Canadian advocate Don Chapman announced that his group expects to take the Canadian government to court over ongoing discrimination, a wave of approval went through the room of Chinese-Canadian war veterans. Click here to read more...July 1, 2011 - Vancouver Observor: More Equality Needed for All in Canada - Today is Canada Day, and on televised ceremonies across Canada our government will be rolling out the welcome mat to thousands of newcomers. Now consider what that feels like to a Canadian-born, Canadian WWII veteran being told they're not wanted in Canada. That's what it's like to be a Lost Canadian. Click here to read full article.
April 20, 2011 - Vancouver Observer: Candidates Trudeau and Dosanjh rattle Tories' cage on family reunification and citizenship Liberal MPs delight party faithful, woo ethnic vote with attack on Conservative policy. Click here for more.April 20, 2011 - Vancouver Observer: So you think you're Canadian, eh? Robert Addington discusses the dirty little secret of our approach to citizenship: Some of us are more Canadian than others. Click here for more.
March 30, 2011 - North Shore News, BC - Fighting for the Lost Canadians, Weeks before the writ was dropped, both the federal Liberal and Conservative parties began drawing lines in the soon-to-come campaign sand. Fighter jets, crime bills, coalition governments and, lying just beneath each election issue, trust have become topics of heated debate between the Grits and the Tories. The Liberals have also been outspoken on immigration, in particular pledging help to the remaining “Lost Canadians.” Click here to read more....
March 23, 2011 - CTV News Ian Munroe Canadian War Bride Child complaint to Canadian Human Rights Commission leads to citizenship. Click here for more...
March 23, 2011 - Tom Young Show, 88.9 News FM: Tom Young interviews Ian Munroe, Canadian War Bride child who has made a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission of family status discrimination.
March 22, 2011 - The Karen Black Show on CJOB Winnipeg: Listen live to Karen's interview with Ian Munroe and Jackie Scott, war bride children who are being discriminated against on the basis of family status by the Department of Citizenship and IMmigration. Click here for more....
March 20, 2011 - War Bride Child Makes Human Rights Complaint to Federal Rights Agency-Says Department Discriminates Against Children Born out of Wedlock during WWII : A Nova Scotia man who came to Canada in June 1946 with his war bride mother has made a complaint of family status discrimination against the Department of Citizenship and Immigration (CIM). Click to read more...March 18, 2011 - Vancouver Observer, Liberals take strong stand on Lost Canadian rights : Justin Trudeau Citizenship Critic says time for change in legislation that discriminates against Lost Canadians on basis of gender and family status. Click here for more....
March 18, 2011 - Liberals pledge further action for “lost Canadians” : Justin Trudeau says citizenship rules that discriminate against Lost Canadians must change. “The rules regarding Canadian citizenship must remain consistent with the values of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Mr. Trudeau said. “To have people treated differently depending on which parent had Canadian citizenship or whether or not their parents were married is anachronistic at best, and at worst, a violation of the Charter. “Any rules regarding Canadian citizenship that result in different treatment based on gender must be changed.” Click here to read more...
March 13, 2011 - Toronto Sun War Bride Child denied Pension Benefits while convicted sex killer Russell Williams collects $60,000 military pension from prison. What's wrong with this picture? Click to read story...March 12, 2011 - Vancouver Observer, Daughter of Canadian war veteran fights 18 years for citizenship, Before his death in 2004, Lloyd Cross, couldn't believe that the country he fought for would refuse to recognize his daughter as Canadian.....click to read more.
March 8, 2011: Halifax Chronicle Herald - Time for women's groups to stand up for war bride children, Op-Ed piece on 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day. Click here for more....
March 8, 2011: National Post - War Bride Children Deserve Better, Letter to the Editor on 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. Click here for more...February 28, 2011: Vancouver Observer - Her Crime? She married a Chinese man. Velma Demerson's true life story "Incorrigble" exposes dark side of Citizenship Act stripping status from women for nearly one hundred years!February 17, 2011: Don Chapman on PBS Television
February 17, 2011: PBS 8 Arizona Canadian Citizenship Laws - PBS television interview with Lost Canadian leader Don Chapman to discuss Canada's outdated and discriminatory citizenship legislation. Click here for more.
February 17, 2011: The Mark - Finding the Lost Canadians, Op Ed piece on the hypocrisy of Stephen Harper's announcement of the new John Diefenbaker Defender of Human Rights and Freedom Award. Click here for more.
February 11, 2011: Vancouver Observer - Daughter of Canadian war veteran still denied Canadian citizenship - If Jackie Scott were born in wedlock, she would be Canadian. Unfortunately for her, her Canadian soldier father wasn’t able to marry her British mother until after the end of World War II. Click here to read the full story.February 11, 2011: Vancouver Observer - Stand On Guard for Thee - Mr. Harper is not in any position whatsoever to hand out 'Human Rights' awards. Just over a week ago his government denied a three-year old baby citizenship in Canada only because of gender. In doing so Mr. Harper knowingly violated three UN Conventions on Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Canada- not once, but in two separate decisions- Benner vs. Canada, 1997 and Leong Ba Chai vs. the Queen, 1954. Click here to read the full op-ed piece.
January 13, 2011, Vancouver, BC: Don Chapman asks for a commitment from the federal Liberal Party on the Lost Canadian issue at Open Mike Town Hall meeting with Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff, Scott Bryson and Dan Veniez, Sea-to-Sky Riding. Click here to watch the video on line.
YouTube: In this video taped on Remembrance Day, 2009, Don Chapman speaks about Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative government's refusal to recognize the remaining 5% of the Lost Canadians who were left out of Bill C-37. Click here to watch video.
Click here to listen to the most recent "In Discussion" with David Gibbons on Voice America, which appeared on December 29, 2010. "The Lost Canadians - Fighting for Canadian Home Soil" features interviews with Don Chapman Founder of the Lost Canadians, War Bride daughter Sheila Walshe, Jim Doe (Alias), |Canadian born Glenn Fenech, Lost Canadian Schneur Rabin & War Bride daughter Jackie Scott. Click for more information.
December 30, 2010: Globe and Mail - Queen becomes great grandmother - newest royal born in Hong Kong to Queen's grandson and his Canadian wife. Child a Canadian citizen but won't be able to pass on citizenship to her own children if they too are born abroad. Click here to read more.
December 30, 2010 : The Current - Chloe Goldring Update - 15 month old rendered stateless by Bill C-37 is granted Canadian citizenship. Click here to read more. December 29, 2010: The Lost Canadians on David Gibbons "In Discussion" on Voice America, an original broadcast at 3 pm Pacific Time, 4 pm Mountain Standard Time, 5 pm Central Standard Time, 6 pm Eastern Standard Time, 7 pm Atlantic Standard Time. Click here for more information. December 23, 2010: Vancouver Observer - Not Your Standard New Canadian, Sandra Burke finally receives her citizenship after two years of frustration with the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. Click here to read story. December 23, 2010: Vancouver Observer - Born in Canada but Not Canadian, Canadian born airline pilot Glenn Fenech refused citizenship but continues to fight for legal status. Click here to read story.
December 10, 2010: International Human Rights Day, Op-Ed piece in the Calgary Herald, "Born Canadians are still winding up stateless". Click here to read article.December 10, 2010: International Human Rights Day, Don Chapman nominated for Globe and Mail Transformational Canadians. Click here to read the story. December 10, 2010: Vancouver Observer, Human Rights Not a Right For All, Even in Canada - op ed piece by Don Chapman. Click here to read story.December 5, 2010: Tug of war intensifies between Lost Canadian advocate and citizenship minister: Jason Kenney won't meet with Don Chapman, but the Minister challenges the activist in the pages of a student newspaper. Click here to read story.
November 23, 2010: Lost Canadians Left in Limbo - opinion piece in the Lethbridge Herald questions the lack of fairness and equality in the Citizenship Act.
Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney Challenges Lost Canadians - in response to a feature article on Lost Canadians in the University of New Brunswick student newspaper, Jason Kenney, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, issues a challenge to Don Chapman which Mr. Chapman gladly accepts.
November 22, 2010: Stateless Canadians fight for citizenship, article by Diana Mehta of Canadian Press appears in the Halifax Chronicle Herald.
November 21, 2010: 'Lost Canadians' seek citizenship at home on MSN, story by Diana Mehta of the Canadian Press.
November 21, 2010: Frustrated but fighting: 'Lost Canadians' push Ottawa to make them true Canucks - Canadian Press article appears under that headline all across Canada in papers from the Winnipeg Free Press, Saint John Telegraph Journal, and Kitchener Waterloo Record to television and radio stations from CTV News and CJAD, 680News and 660 News to internet media MSN and Yahoo!
November 12, 2010: Lost Canadian veteran just wants to belong - the unbelievable story of Ian Munroe's 25 year struggle to have his citizenship recognized by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.
November 8, 2010 - Don Chapman will appear on the Tom Young Show at 3:30 pm. http://www.news889.com/November 8, 2010, 12:15 pm: Don Chapman will speak to the Fredericton Rotary Club, St. Thomas University Conference Centre (former Keddy's Motor Inn), Fredericton, NB.
November 8, 2010 - Click here to listen to four new YouTube videos with Don Chapman explaining the landmark Benner decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Legitimation Act, and how the Department of Citizenship and Immigration discriminates against veterans, war brides and war bride children and second generation Canadians born abroad.
November 6, 2010 - What is wrong with this picture?? Click here to read about Ian Munroe, War Bride Child, 18 Year Veteran of Canadian Navy but Citizenship and Immigration Canada refuses to recognize his citizenship!November 5, 2010: Watch this lively interview with Don Chapman and host Tim Rayne on Fredericton's CHSR-FM Lunchbox News Hour Talk Show.November 4, 2010, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm: Don Chapman will speak at University of New Brunswick Law School, Fredericton, NB. Click here for more information.
November 2, 2010, 7 pm - 8:30 pm: Don Chapman will give a lecture on the Lost Canadians in the auditorium of the KC Irving Centre, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
November 3, 2010: Op-Ed piece in the Fredericton Daily Gleaner - The time has come to give lost Canadian veterans citizenshipOctober 31, 2010: Justin Trudeau leads MPs' call for citizenship law reform - In April 2009, thousands of people around the globe awoke one morning with the right to claim Canadian citizenship.....October 21, 2010: Click here to listen to a new broadcast about the "Lost Canadians" on VoiceAmerica with David Gibbons and guests Don Chapman, War Bride children Ian Munroe and Jackie Scott as well as Jan Makin, who has been told that she can't be a Canadian citizen because her Canadian connection is through her grandmother, a woman.October 21, 2010: Vancouver Observer wins national Canadian Online Publisher's Award for Lost Canadian series.October 20, 2010: Government violates charter by denying citizenship to Lost Canadians, says Don Chapman. October 14, 2010: Ujjal Dosanjh speaks about proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act and Lost CanadiansThe Current, CBC
October 9, 2010: Award Winning Journalist Daphne Braham writes in the Vancouver Sun about the Rachel Chandler Case - Click here to read "Ireland saves Canadian's daughter from being stateless"
October 8, 2010: Born in Canada 94 years ago but not a Canadian: Former nun struggles for citizenship. Click here to read story. October 7, 2010: CBC's The Current: Citizens of Nowhere. Click here to listen to CBC's Anna Maria Tremonti's feature interview with Ian Goldring and Patrick Chandler, two Canadian citizens whose children were made stateless after changes to Canada's Citizenship Act in April 2009 prohibited them from passing citizenship on to their children born abroad. Also appearing on the show are Nicole Gerrard of CIC and Janet Densch of the Canadian Council on Refugees.October 4, 2010: Click here to listen to a rebroadcast of the "Lost Canadians" on VoiceAmerica with David Gibbons, originally broadcast live on July 8, 2010.September 22, 2010: Canadian Museum of Human Rights Report Features Lost Canadians: For more click here
September 2010: Award Winning journalist Daphne Bramham exposes Kafque-esque system which denies passports to War Brides and strips citizenship and pension benefits from other Lost Canadians who have lived and worked here their entire lives. Click here to read her stories in the Vancouver Sun.July 2010: Click here to read 10 part series on Lost Canadians in the Vancouver Observer
Lost Canadians are Canadian citizens who were stripped of their citizenship by arcane provisions of the 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act. In this CBC interview which aired on October 22, 2009, Terry Milewski of The National interviews a group of Lost Canadians on Parliament Hill about the outstanding cases which the Minister of Citizenship, Jason Kenney, refuses to deal with, leaving one six month old baby girl stateless in China.Lost Canadians include:
Canadian born citizens whose fathers and mothers took out citizenship in another country, especially the United States;
War Brides of World War Two and their children who were born in wedlock and brought to Canada on the War Bride ships before and after January 1, 1947;
War Bride children who were born out of wedlock during the Second World War and who came to Canada with their mothers on the War Bride ships before and after January 1, 1947;
Border Babies who were born in hospitals across the border in the United States because there wasn't a hospital nearby in Canada;
Military Brats who were born in Europe while their fathers were serving in the Army of Occupation and NATO in post war Europe; and
Mennonites whose religious marriages in Mexico and Paraguay are not recognized by the Canadian government.
There are hundreds of thousands of Lost Canadians in Canada, in the United States and around the world, citizens whose right to citizenship was taken away from them without their knowledge.
On April 19, 2009, the Canadian Citizenship Act was amended by Bill C-37, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act. Also known as the "Lost Canadian Bill", Bill C-37 solved most of the problems facing Lost Canadians. However, there are still hundreds of Lost Canadians, including War Bride children, children born out of wedlock during the Second World War, and Mennonites who have been refused citizenship by the Canadian government as recently as Christmas Eve 2009.
