Don Chapman, speaking for lost Canadians

Globe and Mail
Nation Builder of the Year: Don Chapman

December 5, 2008

As The Globe and Mail moves towards selecting our Nation Builder of 2008 at the end of December, we will be highlighting nominations from our readers on who they believe deserves special recognition for making a major contribution to Canadian society this year. Today, you have suggested Don Chapman, activist for a group of lost Canadians.

Click here to read the full article in the Globe and Mail

Here's what Globe readers had to say:

Todd Farrell from Halifax, Canada writes: I would like to nominate Don Chapman. Don has spent years of his own time and financial resources to help make the changes necessary in Canada's citizenship laws which would restore Canadian citizenship to thousands who unwittingly lost their citizenship over the past 61 years, since the first Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947 came into force. Isn't that what is at the foundation of our nation, it's own citizens?

Marcel Gelinas from Wilbraham, MA, United States writes: I nominate Don Chapman, the leader of the group known as The Lost Canadians. He has dedicated decades of his life without remuneration or compensation in his pursuit to change the unjust citizenship laws of Canada. His success in doing so was phenomenal but there is still much work to be done. I am a proud Canadian born man, age 87, hoping with all my heart to become a proud citizen. He is working toward that end unselfishly to bring more good people into the fold who deserve it. Don Chapman is continuing in his efforts to make Canada a better nation.

Sandra McIntyre from Niagara Falls, Canada writes: I would like to nominate Don Chapman. I don't know another single soul who has spent this much of his time and his own resources to change a law that is unfair to a lot of people. Don is so passionate about what he does because he believes he can make a difference. He made a difference in my life as he worked hard for me to get Canadian Citizenship granted. I am now a proud Canadian thanks to Don's help.

Landis George from United States writes: nation builder would, by definition, seek to strengthen the native land with a patriotic spirit. This Don Chapman has done. He has opened the way for skilled workers to enter and work in Canada and has paved the way for families to bring children in who will live, work, and perhaps eventually fight for their country. It is rare for one to work so hard with so little recognition and I would like to see him honoured for his hard work, patriotic spirit and persistence.

Kate Newstead from Vancouver, Canada writes: I nominate Don Chapman for his work for Lost Canadians over the world. He has personally touched so many families and for us, my uncle who has always dreamt of getting back his Lost Citizenship. When we found Don, he made time immediately for several personal conversations with us to listen, understand and advise. Of course, on a grander scale, his work towards the C-37 bill will impact thousands of people. He deserves recognition for his tireless commitment and drive for these people.

Rose Cossette from Canada writes: I would like to nominate Don Chapman. He is a man who has worked tirelessly without pay for over two decades to change a law because it was unjust. He has worked long and hard to help at least a quarter of a million people, including my husband, restore their citizenship rights. His Lost Canadian organization is solely responsible for helping to achieve success with the update of Canada's antiquated citizenship laws with the passage of Bill C-37 in April 2008 and S-2 before that. He has made very special contributions on behalf of so many people and to Canada as a nation. If I had not contacted Don Chapman, my husband would still be waiting.

Born in British Columbia, Don Chapman fought Ottawa for years after he and tens of thousands of others, including "war brides," were stripped of their Canadian citizenship under an obscure part of a decades-old immigration law.

Mr. Chapman, a former airline pilot, lost his citizenship when his father moved to the United States and became an American citizen. The Canadian government in such cases then revoked the child's citizenship, without notifying the child.

Mr. Chapman, who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., has been fighting to obtain Canadian citizenship for more than 30 years.

"I'm a landed immigrant in my own country," he said. "I want my birthright."

Bill C-37 passed in the Senate on April 16, amending the Citizenship Act to give Canadian citizenship to those who lost or never had it due to outdated provisions in existing and former legislation.

“This law is a victory not just for those who lost their citizenship, but for all Canadians as well,” Mr. Chapman said after the decision.

Click here to read the full article in the Globe and Mail

You Tube Videos

Click here to watch You Tube VideoIn this YouTube video of November 7, 2010, Don Chapman asks Jason Kenney, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, to do the right thing and fix the problems facing the remaining 5% of Lost Canadians, including veterans, war brides and their foreign born children and second generation Canadians born abroad.



Click here to watch You Tube VideoIn this short video, Don Chapman explains how the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada discriminates against veterans, war brides and their foreign born children who were born out of wedlock during the Second World War on the basis of marital status. He also speaks about second generation born abroad Canadians who are also being denied citizenship since April 2009 and the introduction of Bill C-37.




Click here to watch You Tube VideoIn this short video, Don Chapman explains the Canadian Legitimation Act and how the Department of Citizenship and Immigration violates the Act by discriminating against War Bride children like Jackie Scott, who was born out of wedlock during the Second World War.



Click here to watch You Tube VideoIn this short video, Don Chapman explains the Supreme Court of Canada "Benner" decision of 1997 and how the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada violates the rights of Canadian citizens by choosing to ignore the Supreme Court.




Click here to watch You Tube VideoIn this Youtube Video Shot on November 13, 2009 Don Chapman Speaks about the disgraceful treatment of Guy Valliere, a Canadian born, WWII Veteran who served his country when he was asked but when he asked for his citizenshi, the Minister of Citizenship Jason Kenny refused.




CBC Interview with Melynda Jarratt on Remembrance Day 2009
On Remembrance Day 2009, Don Chapman was in Fredericton, New Brunswick and he gave us these thoughts on Remembrance and Guy Valliere, a World War Two veteran who died in February 2009 disenfranchised because the current Minister of Citizenship, Jason Kenney, refused to grant him his citizenship.

Guy Valliere was born in Canada.




Click here to watch You Tube VideoIn this video shot on November 13, 2009, Don Chapman talks about Lost Canadian children, including infants who have been made stateless due to recent changes in the Canadian Citizenship Act and toddlers whose citizenship is being denied because of gender discrmination.


Click here to watch You Tube VideoIn this piece, Terry Milewski of CBC's The National interviews a group of Lost Canadians on Parliament Hill on October 22, 2009 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.

Click here to watch You Tube VideoApril 19, 2009: An amendment to Canada's Citizenship Act goes into effect restoring a Canadian nationality to those who were forced to give up. (Bloomberg News)



Click here to watch You Tube VideoOn April 17, 2009, you or someone you know, may wake up Canadian. In this video created by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, a man goes to bed and wakes up a Canadian, complete with RCMP, maple syrup, moose, a Canadian flag and other obvious Canadian cultural icons. On the stupid level, this rates a 10 out of 10.


Click here to watch You Tube VideoDecember 2008. KCTS 9 Connects with host Enrique Cerna. Airs Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on KCTS 9. Thousands of children of Canadian World War II veterans suddenly being told they are not citizens.

How You Can Help


The greatest attribute of Canadians is that they are so wonderfully nice. The greatest problem with Canadians is that they are so wonderfully nice.

C-37 affected every Canadian on the planet, which means that you have a different set of citizenship rights today than you did prior to April 17, 2009.

Canadians seem more than willing to stand up to promote human rights for all kinds of people around the world, but somehow when it comes to voicing their views regarding the rights of Canadians here at home we turn a deaf ear.



Contact your news media, ask Macleans Magazine why they haven't printed a word in their magazine about the Lost Canadians since February, 2003 - that's seven years of silence! Amazing, considering they promote themselves by saying:

"Maclean’s is Canada’s only national weekly current affairs magazine. Maclean’s enlightens, engages and entertains 2.8 million readers with strong investigative reporting and exclusive stories from leading journalists in the fields of international affairs, social issues, national politics, business and culture."



Next, go ask the Globe and Mail why they've remained silent for more than 3 years- not one article about C-37, yet they describe themselves as a news source that:

"...consistently delivers Canada's best and deepest coverage of national news." Going further, they say they are "on the ground when stories break, able to report faster and more accurately than newspapers that rely heavily on wire services."

And if that were not enough, they further boast on their web page that they "offer balanced perspectives and competing points of view so that readers can make the smartest, most-informed decisions about issues."

Question: If they refuse to give in-depth coverage regarding citizenship in Canada, then how are Canadians expected to make informed decisions? As a note, for the 13 months preceding Bill C-37's passage in Parliament, there wasn't one article in the Globe and Mail mentioning the Lost Canadians. For the article that they printed on March 1, 2007, the facts were wrong and when asked they elected not to print a correction. (For the record, their article implied that there were only 450 Lost Canadians in the world, and that they were all now Canadian citizens.)



The Dominion Institute and the Case of Jack Babcock

Several years back the Dominion Institute started an on line petition asking for a state funeral for the last remaining Canadian WW I soldier, Jack Babcock.

It turns out that Jack Babcock is a "Lost Canadian."

When C-37 became effective, Prime Minister Stephen Harper expedited Mr. Babcock's citizenship application and Babcock became a citizen in 21 days, from the date of application to the date his citizenship was granted.



Meantime, Canadian WWII veteran Guy Valliere (above in his hospital bed), was allowed to die disenfranchised from the country he was born in and defended, all because he lost his citizenship due to reason 11 in the long list of reasons how you can lose your citizenship. (Click here to read 12 Ways to Lose Your Citizenship )

11) You are a child of a woman who married a non-Canadian prior to 1947. (It doesn't matter that you've spent your whole life in Canada or were born in Canada!)

This happened because the Canadian people were uninformed (very little media coverage), and organizations like the Dominion Institute remain silent. Being that the government seems mainly reactive than pro-active, about the only way to get politicians off dead centre is when the public is outraged.

Institute for Canadian Citizenship

Please, write or voice your opinions to your MP's, the media, and all the Dominion Institutes out there.

Interestingly, Adrienne Clarkson, after her stint as Governor General of Canada, started the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the Asper family started the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Both these organizations knew about the Lost Canadians, yet both groups remained silent. Why? It's time for the average Canadian to expect accountability. Again, please write and voice your opinions to all people and organizations who can educate or make a difference. In fact, it is your duty as a Canadian citizen to be informed.

Lost Canadian Stories

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Bill C-37

Bill C-37, an Amendment to the Canadian Citizenship Act came into effect on April 19, 2009. Also known as the "Lost Canadian Bill", C-37 corrected most of the quirky citizenship laws, retroactively granting citizenship to people who lost their status going back 63 years, to January 1, 1947.

While Bill C-37 solved the citizenship problems of hundreds of thousands of Canadians whose citizenship had been taken away from them by the arane provisions of the 1947 Citizenship Act, it also created a new problem of statelessness in children who are born abroad after April 19, 2009, to Canadians who themselves were born abroad.

What this means is that Canadian citizens who were born abroad (called "First generation born abroad", cannot pass on their citizenship to their children if those children are also born abroad. Hence, the "Second-generation born abroad" rule which came into effect in April, 2009 has already started to created serious problems for Canadian citizens who do not realize that their children do not qualify for Canadian citizenship.

This was an addition put into the Lost Canadian Bill by the Conservative government in 2008. It was not something that we as Lost Canadians wanted connected to our Bill.

Current Status

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Who Are The Lost Canadians?

Canadian FlagLost Canadians are Canadian citizens who were stripped of their citizenship by arcane provisions of the 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act.

The 1947 Act was based on old, archaic legislation that considered women and children chattel of their husbands or fathers. The original laws were written just after Confederation in the mid-1800's, and they weren't corrected until the passage and implementation of Bill C-37 on April 17, 2009 - ironically it was the 27th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

There were many ways to be stripped of your Canadian citizenship, and most Lost Canadians were actually unaware that they were Lost Canadians. Often times it wasn't till the affected person went to collect their Old Age Pension or needed medical care did they find out. (Click here to read about Rita Rouselle, a War Bride child from New Brunswick who found out she was not a citizen when she applied for her OAP last year).

In our ranks there are movie stars, sports heroes, singers, Privy Council Members, MP's, Senators, Judges, journalists, pharmacists, even Order of Canada recipients. Most Lost Canadians, however, are just average, ordinary people who've always thought themselves to be Canadian citizens.

Twelve Ways To Lose Citizenship:

1) As a minor child ones father took out citizenship in another country.

2) You were a foreign-born Canadian, and on your 24th birthday you weren't domiciled in Canada .

3) You were a War Bride who never became naturalized.

4) You were a War-Bride child who never was naturalized.

5) In certain circumstances, you were a second-generation born abroad Canadian and you didn't reaffirm your citizenship by your 28th birthday.

6) You were a border-baby, meaning you were born in the U.S. (mainly because the nearest hospital was in the States rather than Canada ), and you were never properly registered. People from Quebec were particularly affected.

7) In certain circumstances, your connection to Canada came through a women rather than a man. This mainly affected foreign born, born in-wedlock children to Canadian mothers and foreign fathers. In 1997 the Canadian Supreme Court ruled CIC was guilty of gender discrimination, thus granting citizenship to this group on application. However, in 2004 CIC decided to ignore the Supreme Court's ruling, thus Canada went back to blatantly discriminating against women.

8) You were born out of wedlock.

9) You were born to a Canadian serviceman outside of Canada, commonly referred to as military Brats.

10) You are a woman who married a non-Canadian prior to 1947.

11) You are a child of a woman who married a non-Canadian prior to 1947. (It doesn't matter that you've spent your whole life in Canada or were born in Canada!)

12) You took out citizenship in another country prior to 1977.


Do you fit into one of the above groups? In fact close to one-million people do. That's quite a number, being that Canada is a country of just over 33-million (excuse me, now 34-million!)

Original definition of a Lost Canadian:

A Lost Canadian is someone who was born in Canada between the years 1947 and 1977. Out of no fault of their own, their fathers took out citizenship in another country, thus the result was, a lot of children like myself – but only Canadian-born children – they lost their citizenship as well. Of note, many of these children did not have citizenship in another country, resulting in thousands of children being completely stateless.

In my quest for Canadian citizenship, I discovered many variations of people who had been stripped of their Canadian status. There were children born abroad to Canadian parents, there are what is now referred to as Border Babies, Children born on Canadian military bases to Canadian fathers serving in the Canadian military, War Brides from WW II, and of course their foreign-born children, Native Aboriginal women many times were affected by their own customs and rules and they too many times lost their status.

These old rules were just plain wrong. In today’s standards, they are quite immoral.

Let me use the government’s own language from their original laws:

“Married women, minors, lunatics, and idiots, will be classified under a disability for their national status.”

Starting in 1868 with the first Canadian Nationals Act, these were the laws that Canada observed. In 1929 there was the Famous Person’s case- that being the first time women were considered to be people! While that decision gave women one very basic right to be recognized, with regards to their Canadian status they were still considered disabled. Those laws remained on the books until the beginning of 1947.

January 1, 1947:

Prior to this day there were no Canadian citizens. People in Canada were British Subjects. On January 1, 1947 the first true Canadian Citizenship Act was implemented, with Prime Minister Mackenzie King being the very first Canadian citizen, Paul Martin, Sr. being the second. In fact, the citizenship act was the brainchild of Paul Martin, Sr. He first conceived the idea during WW II, but the idea really gelled as he walked through the Canadian graveyard in Dieppe after the war.

Once again a product of its time, the Act was inherently discriminatory. While it gave women status, it still lumped “minors, lunatics, and idiots” together under a disability for citizenship. Women, while now able to be Canadian citizens, were by no means equal to men. The gender inequalities were huge. Under this law, that is how the Canadian government stripped Canadian children of their citizenship.

Looking at this in today’s standards, it’s hard to imagine that these laws were ever on the books. It’s harder still understanding why the government is so vehemently defending their past actions. To right an historic wrong- it’s something that seems almost impossible for the Canadian government to do.

In The News

What follows are a list of some of the articles which have appeared in the press, television and radio about the Lost Canadians. This is by no means an exhaustive list. If you know of an article that appeared in the newspaper, in a magazine or on the radio or television, please let us know by sending me an email at dcinbc@yahoo.ca

Vancouver Observer: February 13, 2014 - Decades-long wait for citizenship coming to end for some Lost Canadians - "I cried when I was reading the (new citizenship) bill. I want to jump for joy, but I'm afraid to allow myself that until I can hold my citizenship card in my hand," said Jackie Scott, the daughter of a Canadian war veteran who has been waiting for nearly seven decades to receive the citizenship she was supposed to have all along. Click here to read more...

CKNW Vancouver: February 11, 2014 - The Bill Good Show Interview with Don Chapman, Leader of the Lost Canadians - Popular radio show host, Bill Good, interviews Don Chapman, Leader of the Lost Canadians, about proposed changes to the Citizenship Act. Click here to read more....

CBC Metro Morning: February 10, 2014 - Interview with Lost Canadian Marion Vermeersch - Lost Canadian Marion Vermeersch speaks about about proposed changes to the Citizenship Act that will have a direct impact on her decade long struggle to have her citizenship recognized by the Canadian government. Click here to read more....

Montreal Gazette: February 7, 2014 - Lost Canadian provisions in citizenship bill fall short: critics - Measures aimed at closing the citizenship loophole for so-called lost Canadians came up short, critics said Friday — a day after the government introduced a sweeping bill overhauling the Citizenship Act. Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, purports to restore citizenship for those born before 1947 when Canada didn’t have a Citizenship Act and were thus considered British subjects, as well as their first generation children who were born outside Canada and often only learned they weren’t Canadian when they tried to get a passport. Click here to read more....

The Tyee: February 7, 2014 - 'Lost Canadians' Advocate Isn't Celebrating Yet - Changes to Citizenship Act leave Don Chapman 'guardedly optimistic', but court battle continues. - They're known as the Lost Canadians: people who have spent much of their lives in Canada, but have lost their citizenship thanks to a series of bizarre provisions in the country's antiquated citizenship laws. Each case has its own unique parameters: some are Mennonites. Others celebrated their 24th birthday in a foreign country sometime between 1947 and 1977. Many are the children of Canadian servicemen and "war brides" born out of wedlock before 1947, when the Canadian Citizenship Act first came into effect (children born within the bonds of marriage automatically took their father's nationality). Click here to read more...

Daily Gleaner: February 5, 2014 - 'Injustice' to war brides may finally be addressed - A Fredericton author who has written extensively on Canada's war brides is praising a commitment by the federal government to correct what many believe to be a "historical injustice." Melynda Jarratt, author of War Brides: The stories of the women who left everything behind to follow the men they loved, said recent comments by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander that changes to the Citizenship Act are forthcoming has left her thrilled. "I am over the moon," Jarratt said. "It remains to be seen, but I think they're going to do it." Click here to read more...

February 5, 2014: Rick Howe Show 88.9 FM - Listen to Rick Howe interview Don Chapman on 88.9 FM News Radio discuss proposed changes to the Citizenship Act which could finally solve the problem of War Bride children and children born out of wedlock prior to 1947. Click here to read more...

January 31, 2014: Rick Howe Show 88.9 FM - Listen to Rick Howe interview Don Chapman on 88.9 FM News Radio about the announcement by the Citizenship Minister that the lost Canadian issue will finally be resolved with the introduction of new legislation. Click here to read more...

January 29, 2014: The Royal Canadian Legion Dominion President, Gordon Moore, is encouraged by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander's statement that changes to the Citizenship Act are forthcoming. In particular, complicated circumstances that have barred War Brides and children of War Brides from obtaining Canadian citizenship will be fixed under new legislation. Click here to read more...

January 27, 2014: Ottawa Citizen - Canadian Citizenship Should Mean More - If there is a recurring theme in the statutory media reviews of the Conservatives on and around the eighth anniversary of their election, it is their fondness for incremental change. ...The exception is citizenship and immigration, which was long the prerogative of Jason Kenney, the most effective minister in this government. His successor, Chris Alexander, is promising “the first comprehensive reform of the Citizenship Act in a generation.” This is something to watch....let it address the injustice of the “lost Canadians” who have been denied citizenship through loopholes in the law. Click here to read more...

January 24, 2014: CBC - Canadian citizenship rules face broad reform in 2014 - The federal government will introduce several changes to Canada's citizenship rules after members of Parliament return to Ottawa next Monday following a six-week hiatus, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. Alexander said the reform will aim to give Canadian citizenship to "Lost Canadians" who had seen it denied from them for one reason or another over the years. "We want to make sure that those loopholes that have done great injustice to a few people for all of those decades are closed, and that Canadian citizenship embraces all of those it should have embraced from the beginning." "Some are children of war brides, some have other complicated circumstances which should never have barred them from citizenship, and we have to fix the legislation," the minister said. Click here to read more...

January 10, 2014: Vancouver Observer - Amid deportation fears, Indigenous Lost Canadian struggles to gain citizenship - In the cold northern town of Dawson City, Yukon, 59-year-old Donovan McGlaughlin speaks with a heavy voice as he describes what it's like to wake up each morning, wondering if the government will deport him. McLaughlin lacks identity papers, and can't prove he is a Canadian citizen. Click here to read more....

November 26, 2013: Rick Howe Show on 97.5 FM Halifax - Rick Howe interviews Lost Canadians Doris McKay and a man named "Jarrett" along with Don Chapman of the Lost Canadians. Click here for more.

November 10, 2013: Vancouver Observer -  No More Silence on Remembrance Day - Thousands of legitimate Canadians, including war veterans and their children, have been denied Canadian citizenship due to arcane provisions of the Citizenship Act, some of them blatantly discriminatory. Known as the "Lost Canadians", these people are still waiting for justice from a federal government that has promised change for years while refusing to act. Two minutes of silence on Remembrance Day?  Not me. Why?  Because I think the best way to honour our war dead is to speak out on their behalf.  And they need a voice in the worst way. Click here for more...

 August 6, 2013: McLeans Magazine - ‘Lost Canadian’ court action looks to overhaul citizenship laws - Canadian citizenship laws may need to be overhauled if a so-called “lost Canadian” wins her legal battle. Jackie Scott, 68, was refused citizenship even though she came to Canada with her British mother and Canadian father at the age of two. A judicial review of that refusal was scheduled for July, but Scott put it on hold so she and her lawyers could broaden the court action. Click here to read more...

August 6, 2013: CTV News - 'Lost Canadian' court challenge looks to overhaul citizenship laws - Canadian citizenship laws may need to be overhauled if a so-called "lost Canadian" wins her legal battle. Jackie Scott, 68, was refused citizenship even though she came to Canada with her British mother and Canadian father at the age of two. A judicial review of that refusal was scheduled for July, but Scott put it on hold so she and her lawyers could broaden the court action. Click here to read more...

August 6, 2013: Vancouver Sun - 'Lost Canadian' court action looks to overhaul citizenship laws - Canadian citizenship laws may need to be overhauled if a so-called "lost Canadian" wins her legal battle. Jackie Scott, 68, was refused citizenship even though she came to Canada with her British mother and Canadian father at the age of two. A judicial review of that refusal was scheduled for July, but Scott put it on hold so she and her lawyers could broaden the court action. Click here to read more...

August 6, 2013: Halifax Chronicle Herald - ‘Lost Canadian’ widens action in citizenship case - Documents filed Friday in Federal Court in Vancouver show Scott is petitioning for “declarations” from the court that could have serious ramifications for Canadian citizenship, including whether Parliament has total control over who is considered Canadian. Scott said even though she would have loved to settle her own citizenship dispute back in July, her fight has become about much more than herself. Click here to read more....

August 6, 2013: Vancouver Sun - ‘Lost Canadian’ Jackie Scott kicks off citizenship battle in B.C. court - Scott was born in England in 1945 to a Canadian serviceman and a British woman and later migrated to Canada. The government claims Scott’s father was legally a British subject rather than a Canadian at the time because Canada’s first citizenship act did not come into effect until 1947 and because her father and mother were not then maried, Scott cannot automatically be considered a Canadian. Click here to read more....

July 25, 2013: Vancouver Sun - Indian status and citizenship both out of reach for desperate Ontario mom - Despite a Canadian Ojibwa bloodline spanning so many years ago that her grandmother can’t put a date on it, Heather Harnois is considered neither aboriginal, nor Canadian. It means that while she grew up in this country since her teens, the now 25-year-old mother of two can’t get a social insurance number, health-care coverage or child tax benefits even though one of her children was born in Canada. Click here for more...


July 24, 2013: Ottawa Citizen Editorial: Lost Canadians - Jackie Scott should not need to go to court to get the Canadian citizenship that is hers by right, and which she eminently deserves. Scott, who is 68, is one of the thousands of so-called Lost Canadians who have been denied citizenship because of a quirk in the law that should not be countenanced in today’s Canada. Click here for more....


July 23, 2013: Sing Tao Daily - For the Chinese Canadian perspective on the Lost Canadians. Click here for more....

July 23, 2013: UPI 'Lost Canadian' woman sues Canadian government for citizenship - A woman born to a Canadian soldier and a British woman during World War II sued the Canadian government after she was denied Canadian citizenship. Click here for more....

CBC The National: "Still A Lost Canadian"

July 22, 2013: CTV "Lost Canadian" denied citizenship mulls class-action suit - Surrey resident Jackie Scott can pay taxes and vote, but the Federal Government says she is not Canadian. Click for more...

July 22, 2013: Vancouver Sun ‘Lost Canadian’ hopes to overhaul Canadian citizenship laws in court - Thousands of so-called “Lost Canadians” may have their day in court if a woman who’s waited years to establish her own Canadian citizenship decides to pursue a class-action lawsuit. Click here for more...

July 22, 2013: Vancouver Observer - Landmark Lost Canadian court case could redefine citizenship law - The Lost Canadians court case starting in Vancouver could set a precedent for how the government deems people eligible for citizenship. Click here for more...

July 22, 2013: CBC: 'Lost Canadian' sues government for citizenship Jacquie Scott was born out of wedlock to a British mother and Canadian father during WWII - A woman born to a Canadian soldier and a British woman during the Second World War is suing the federal government after being denied Canadian citizenship. Jacquie Scott says it was only 10 years ago that she discovered she was not officially a Canadian, even though she was raised in Canada by her Canadian father. Click here for more...

July 22, 2013: Globe and Mail ‘Lost Canadian’ hopes to overhaul Canadian citizenship laws through class-action lawsuit - A woman who has waited years to establish her Canadian citizenship in court is considering expanding her case into a class-action lawsuit to include thousands of other so-called “lost Canadians.” Jackie Scott, 68, was refused citizenship even though she came to Canada with her British mother and Canadian father at the age of two and spent most of her life here. A judicial review of that denial was to have started on Monday, but as the proceedings got under way, Ms. Scott put it on hold so she and her lawyers could broaden the court action. Click here for more...



July 22, 2013: National Post: Brian Hutchinson: ‘Lost Canadian’ fighting nonsensical law that prevents war babies from becoming citizens - Jackie Scott has no doubt that she is Canadian. It’s in her blood, and in the way she was raised. Her father was a Canadian soldier who served overseas during the Second World War. He met a British woman. The couple fell in love and had a child. Click here for more...



Canada.com : NDP makes pitch to fix ‘Lost Canadian’ citizenship quagmire

July 19, 2013: Vancouver Sun: Daphne Bramham: Federal government parses patriotism in strange ways when defining citizenship Lives will depend on whether courts buy in to federal arguments about what is Canadian. There is something discordant in the federal government’s view of citizenship and what it means to be Canadian. Somehow it was important to spend more than $28 million marking the War of 1812 as a “Canadian” war. Yet, repeatedly in Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal and even the Supreme Court, there is a complete avowal by the federal government that before 1947 there was any such thing as a Canadian.Click here for more...

July 16, 2013: LOST CANADIAN PRESS RELEASE - New Citizenship Minister Faces 65 year old Problem That Won't Go Away: War bride child fights for citizenship in Federal Court A Surrey, B.C. woman who arrived in Canada 65 years ago with her British war bride mother is fighting for her citizenship in the Federal Court of Canada. Because she was born before her parents’ marriage, she is excluded from citizenship by a technicality in Canada’s pre-1977 citizenship law. Click here for more...

July 16, 2013: Vancouver Observer - Canadian military couple fights for adopted child's right to citizenship Not Canadian enough? Sarah Currie and her husband Mike are an Ottawa-based couple looking forward to bringing a child in their lives: 23-month-old Smith, a boy currently living in a Haitian orphanage. Click here for more...

June 6, 2013: Ottawa Citizen - NDP tries to fix "Lost Canadians" quagmire They are men and women who have been denied citizenship because their fathers were technically British subjects when they got their would-be war brides pregnant while serving during the Second World War. Click here for more....


June 6, 2013: Canada.com - NDP makes pitch to fix "Lost Canadian" citizenship The NDP will table a motion before a Commons committee on Thursday - the anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of Nazi-Germany occupied France - to recognize that the situation of the remaining Lost Canadians "has gone unaddressed for too long." Click here for more...



September 22, 2012: The National Post Thousands of ‘Lost Canadians’ struggling to achieve citizenship stuck in legal quagmire - It was a remarkable exchange, caught on tape. Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, was confronted in June by a 67-year-old woman to whom his department had denied citizenship, thanks to circumstances surrounding her birth. Circumstances that were not extraordinary. Jackie Scott was born out of wedlock in England, to a Canadian soldier and his British lover, just before the Second World War had ended. She is a war bride child. Canada has thousands of them. Click here for more...

September 1, 2012: Vancouver Observer Kafkaesque bureaucracy denies citizenship to legitimate Canadians - Jackie Scott and Linda Missal De Cock have collectively lived in Canada for over a century. Scott, the daughter of a war bride and Canadian soldier, arrived in Canada from England in 1948, and resided here for 57 years. De Cock, meanwhile, has lived in Canada for 69 out of 70 years. The women, living on opposite ends of the country, went to school, married, and carved a life out for themselves in Canada. But bizarrely -- even as Canada accepts 250,000 new immigrant Canadians a year -- government has denied such individuals citizenship. Click here for more...

July 10, 2012: Globe and Mail: Conrad Black asks for a say in Order of Canada hearing - Almost a year after Conrad Black learned that he could lose his Order of Canada, the former media baron has gone to court to force the council reviewing his membership to hear him in person. Click here for more...

July 10, 2012, Toronto Star: Conrad Black wants say at Order of Canada hearing - Disgraced former media baron Conrad Black insists he shouldn’t be stripped of his Order of Canada without being able to personally defend himself. Click here for more...
 Toronto SunJuly 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...
  
July 2, 2012, Vancouver Observer: Jason Kenney tells war veteran daughter: soldiers were "heroes," but not Canadian citizens - Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney told Jackie Scott, the daughter of a Canadian war veteran, that her father – and others serving the country – technically weren't Canadian at the time they were fighting for their country. Click here for more...
May 25, 2012, Toronto Star - Citizenship Insane: Here we go again. This week we ran the story of Lawrence Connelly, born in 1967 to a Canadian military family based in Germany, who found out this year that he cannot get a passport unless he can prove he’s a citizen — and the DND certificate of birth isn’t proof. Click here for more...
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....

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....

May 10, 2012: On February 9th, 1945, the Cabinet made an Order in Council that is now all but forgotten but is of continuing importance to one group of remaining Lost Canadians: War Bride children who arrived in Canada before January 1st, 1947. Some of them, after a lifetime in Canada, are still excluded from citizenship because they were born out of wedlock, even if their parents later married. The purpose of this note is to show that this continuing denial of citizenship is both historically and legally indefensible. Click here for more. Click here for more...



Vancouver ObserverMarch 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...

Vancouver ObserverMarch 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...

March 8, 2012: Huffington Post - Harper Could Make This a Happier Women's Day - Two weeks ago, years of Harper government inaction forced Mrs. Jackie Scott, now 66, to file an action in the Federal Court in Vancouver gain her citizenship. It was denied to her because she was born out-of-wedlock. Click here to read more....

March 7, 2012:
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....

Vancouver ObserverFebruary 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....

Vancouver ObserverJanuary 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...

December 2011 - Readers Digest: How Unjust Legal Quirks Rob Canadians of their Citizenship - The world's most read magazine has finally featured the story of the Lost Canadians on its front cover this December, 2011! Written by Drew Nelles, the six page article Lost Canadians: How Unjust Legal Quirks Rob Canadians of their Citizenship, features an interview with Don Chapman, leader of the Lost Canadians and tells the the true life story of several victims, including Guy Vallieres, a Second World War veteran who died in 2009, disenfranchised from his own country. Click here to read more...

November 9, 2011 - Toronto Star: Suit seeks citizenship for ‘Lost Canadians’ - Peter Brammah had always considered himself as Canadian as it gets, enlisting in the Royal Canadian Navy and serving as a police officer in Calgary. But Brammah, now 75 and in poor health, didn’t realize until 2002 that he was not considered a Canadian citizen, even though he has lived in Canada since he was six years old. His parents were both British subjects, but Brammah’s mother came to Canada with him as a child after divorcing his father and then marrying a Canadian citizen. Click here to read more...

November 7, 2011 - Yahoo News! Lawsuit aims to return citizenship to elderly "lost" Canadians - "This has got a lot of tentacles and it's going to affect a lot of people and potentially cost a lot of money," he said, adding the suit is only the first in a series of planned legal manoeuvres. Click here to read more....

November 6, 2011 - CTV: Lawsuit seeks citizenship for elderly 'lost' Canadians VANCOUVER — Peter Brammah sailed with the Canadian navy and later worked for Calgary's police force. Despite serving this country as both a naval and police officer, he can't actually call Canada his own. Click here to read more.

October 28, 2011: Coast Reporter: Back to court for Lost Canadians - The leader of the Lost Canadians, Don Chapman of Gibsons, said he once again intends to take the government of Canada to court over citizenship discrimination. Having taken up the cause of 10 people he said were undeservingly stripped of their citizenship, Chapman described the group’s position as being indisputable. Click here to read more.

2011

August 8, 2011
Lost Canadians to take Canadian government to court, advocate tells war vets
Vancouver Observer

July 1, 2011
On Canada Day, Lost Canadians Sit on the Sidelines
Huffington Post

July 1, 2011
More Equality Needed for All in Canada
Vancouver Observer

July 2011
Are You Sure You're a Canadian?
Downhome Magazine, Newfoundland

May 26, 2011
The Lost Canadians
Huffington Post Canada


April 29, 2011
Toronto Zoomer Radio 740 AM: Dale Goldhawk Live
Interview with Don Chapman

April 20, 2011
So you think you're Canadian, eh?
by Robert Addington, Vancouver Observer

April 20, 2011
Candidates Trudeau and Dosanjh rattle Tories' cage on family reunification and citizenship
by Darren Fleet, Vancouver Observer

March 30, 2011
Fighting for the Lost Canadians
By Sean Kolenko - North Shore Outlook

March 23, 2011
Ian Munroe, War Bride Child Complaint to Human Rights Commission Leads to Citizenship
CTV

March 22, 2011
Interview with War Bride Child, Ian Munroe
The Tom Young Show, 88.9 FM, Saint John, New Brunswick

March 22, 2011
Interview with War Bride Child, Ian Munroe
The Karen Black Show, CJOB-Winnipeg, Manitoba

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

March 18, 2011
Justin Trudeau says citizenship rules that discriminate against Lost Canadians must change Liberals pledge further action for “lost Canadians”
Office of Justin Trudeau, Member of Parliament,

March 13, 2011
Canada Pension Plan debacle
by Rob Granatstein, Editorial Page Editor, Toronto Sun

March 12, 2011
Daughter of Canadian war veteran fights 18 years for citizenship
by Darren Fleet, The Vancouver Observer

March 8, 2011
Time for women's groups to stand up for war bride children
Op-Ed by Melynda Jarratt, Halifax Chronicle Herald

March 8, 2011
War Bride Children Deserve Better
Letter to the Editor, National Post

March 6, 2011
Time for women's groups to stand up for war bride children
Op-Ed by Melynda Jarratt, NB Media Co-op, Fredericton, NB.

March 5, 2011
Op-Ed by Melynda Jarratt, Sarnia Daily News, Sarnia Ontario

February 28, 2011
Lost Canadian Velma Demerson's tragic story of love and loss
by Darren Fleet, Vancouver Observer

February 17, 2011
Canadian Citizenship Laws: Interview with Don Chapman
PBS Television 8 Arizona, USA

February 17, 2011
Finding the Lost Canadians
Op-Ed by Don Chapman, The Mark, Vancouver, BC

February 11, 2011
Daughter of Canadian war veteran still denied Canadian citizenship
by Darren Fleet, Vancouver Observer

February 11, 2011
To Stand on Guard for Thee
Op-Ed by Don Chapman for the Vancouver Observer

2010

December 29, 2010
The Lost Canadians - Fighting for Canadian Home Soil
Voice America, In Discussion with David Gibbons

December 23, 2010
Not your standard new Canadian
by Darren Fleet, Vancouver Observer

December 23, 2010
Born in Canada, but not Canadian
by Emily Barca, Vancouver Observer

December 10, 2010
Transformational Canadians - Don Chapman is reclaiming citizenship for lost Canadians
Globe and Mail

December 10, 2010
Born Canadians are still winding up stateless
Op-Ed by Don Chapman, Calgary Herald

December 10, 2010
Human rights not a right for all, even in Canada
Op-ed by Don Chapman, Vancouver Observer

December 5, 2010
Tug of war intensifies between Lost Canadian advocate and citizenship minister
Vancouver Observer

November 23, 2010
Lost Canadians Left in Limbo
Opinion, Lethbridge Herald

November 22, 2010
Stateless Canadians fight for citizenship
By Diana Mehta, Halifax Chronicle Herald

November 21, 2010
Lost Canadians seek citizenship at home
By Diana Mehta, MSN

November 21, 2010
Frustrated but fighting: 'Lost Canadians' push Ottawa to make them true CanucksBy Diana Mehta, Canadian Press
This article also appeared under the same headline in countless newspapers, radio, tv and internet media across Canada, including the Winnipeg Free Press, Kitchener Waterloo Record, the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal, CTV News, CJAD, 680 FM, 660 FM, etc. etc.

November 17, 2010
Lost Canadians: Minister Gets It Wrong
Letter to the Editor, The Brunswickan

November 17, 2010
Lost Canadians: Let the dialogue begin
Letter to the Editor, The Brunswickan

November 12, 2010
Lost Canadian Veteran Just Wants to Belong
by Melynda Jarratt, The Daily Gleaner

November 3, 2010
Lost Canadians: the biggest story you’ve never heard: The incredible story of how the Canadian government left so many out in the cold
By Colin McPhail, The Brunswickan

November 3, 2010
The time has come to give lost Canadian veterans citizenship
Daily Gleaner, Fredericton, NB

November 1, 2010
Canadian Philanthropist and Citizenship Critic in Fredericton for Public Lecture on Lost Canadians

October 31, 2010
Trudeau leads MPs' call for citizenship law reform
Vancouver Observer

October 30, 2010
The Inexplicable Tragedy of our Lost Canadians
Dan Veniez

October 21, 2010
Citizenship Week No Time for Celebration

October 21, 2010
Vancouver Observer Series on Lost Canadians wins top award at 2010 Candian Online Publishers Awards
Vancouver Observer

October 21, 2010
Voice America: Lost Canadians with Don Chapman, Ian Munroe, Jackie Scott and Jan Makin
In Discussion with David Gibbons on Voice America Network

October 20, 2010
Government violates charter by denying citizenship to Lost Canadians, says Don Chapman
by Emily Barca, Vancouver Observer

October 20, 2010
Justin Trudeau, Liberal Citizenship Critic, Speaks out in support of Lost Canadians during Citizenship Week

October 14, 2010
Ujjal Dosanjh speaks about proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act and Lost Canadians
The Current, CBC

October 7, 2010
Citizens of Nowhere
The Current, CBC

October 3, 2010
Canadian citizenship drama broadcast on national U.S. radio
by Megan Stewart, Vancouver Observer

September 8, 2010
Lost Canadian denied citizenship and now has to fight for pension benefits
by Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

September 7, 2010
Canadian war bride denied passport
by Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

September 4, 2010
War bride, 87, denied new passport Bureaucrats prevent Canadian resident of 67 years from seeing her great-grandchildren
by Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

July 12, 2010
Howard Kornblum's fight for Canadian citizenship
by Megan Stewart, Vancouver Observer

July 2010
10 Part Series in the Vancouver Observer

June 30, 2010
Sandra Burke: Woman learns, too late, she is not a Canadian
By Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporter, The Toronto Star

March 10, 2010
Who stands on guard for lost Canadians?
By Melynda Jarratt and Don Chapman, Halifax Chronicle Herald

March 10, 2010
Women's Day woes
By Antonia Zerbisias, Living Columnist, Toronto Star

March 9, 2010
Gender discrimination in citizenship act
By Melynda Jarratt and Don Chapman, Daily Gleaner, Fredericton, NB

March 7, 2010
'Lost Canadians' seek route home; Man urges Canada to fix holes in immigration laws to restore citizenship
The National Post

February 23, 2010
Jack Babcock Was A Lost Canadian
By Melynda Jarratt, Daily Gleaner, Fredericton, NB

February 5, 2010
Case made for Canada's war brides
by Adam Huras, The Telegraph Journal

February 4, 2010
78 Year Old Canadian Not a Citizen: No status, no health card
By ANNE SUTHERLAND, The Gazette

January 27, 2010
‘Lost Canucks’ fight for rights
By Jason Halstead, WINNIPEG SUN

2009
December 31, 2009
Honour pledge to war brides
Letter to Editor, Telegraph Journal, Saint John New Brunswick

December 31, 2009
Government stance looks cynical: Letter to Editor, Telegraph Journal, Saint John NB

December 30, 2009
Battle to prove citizenship not unusual, says advocate
By Benjamin Shingler, Telegraph Journal

December 28, 2009
Child of War Bride in Limbo
By Benjamin Shingler, Telegraph Journal

November 16, 2009
Toronto Sun: Our 'lost' Canadians
By Peter Worthington, The Toronto Sun

October 17, 2009
Lost Canadians denied citizenship with 'out-of-wedlock' status
By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

September 25, 2009
Citizenship Act creates a 'stateless' child ; Rachel Chandler was born in Beijing on June 5 and she may well be the first child rendered stateless by ill-conceived amendments to Canada's Citizenship Act in mid-April.
The Vancouver Sun

2008
August 8, 2008
Kenilworth Weekly News
Leamington's 'Lost Canadian' dies


2007
May 30, 2007
CBC
'Lost' Canadian trapped in obscure citizenship rules

2006
May 05, 2006
Lost Canadian: Bill S-2 Passes

November 4, 2006
Toronto Star
Thousands of former citizens snared in long legal limbo; Fathers became citizens elsewhere Children stripped of citizenship

2005
December 21, 2005
Canada Free Press
Paul Martin's two classes of Canadian citizens

2003
January 31, 2003
Montreal Gazette
Elizabeth Thompson
Coderre must right citizenship injustice

February 06, 2003
Danielle Smith
Calgary Herald
Maybe you really can't go home again