Vancouver Observer: 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. This right was not theirs the previous day, but remains theirs today.

Amendments to the Canadian Citizenship Act opened Canadian borders to people of Canadian ancestry who, through fate, circumstance and the decisions of their parents or grandparents, left this country for another.



The changes that welcomed many did nothing to end the exclusion of others. There are still people who were born to a Canadian parent before 1947, and in some cases up until 1977, for whom Canadian heritage is still not recognized, even though many of them have lived in Canada since they were infants -- some for their entire lives.

Now, a growing number of politicians are speaking up.

Justin Trudeau is among the most prominent. The Liberal Member of Parliament for Papineau, a bilingual riding in urban Montreal, is the newly appointed party critic for Youth, Citizenship and Immigration.

During Citizenship Week earlier this month, Trudeau weighed the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. In a news release, he wrote, "...there continues to be a remarkable number of people whose commitment to this country is not properly acknowledged by the Citizenship Act."

For Citizenship Week, which takes place from Oct. 18 to 24, Trudeau wrote, "This week is also a time to acknowledge these Lost Canadians and work towards rectifying the failures of current legislation."

Others working to change Canadian citizenship laws include Liberal caucus members Marlene Jennings, Bob Rae, Ujjal Dosanjh and John McCallum, as well as Liberal party candidate in West Vancouver, Dan Veniez. Veniez wrote Saturday about the "inexplicable tragedy of our Lost Canadians."

Veniez met with one of his would-be constituents from the Sunshine Coast, Don Chapman, an activist who campaigns tirelessly to restore citizenship rights to those he believes have been injustly disenfranchised. The influence of the Vancouver-born reformer is evident in Veniez's words. The Liberal politician described Canada's citizenship laws as gender-biased. He called them "an inexplicable injustice" and described the "discriminatory provisions" of a law that "treated women and children differently from men, stripping status from Canadian women who married foreigners, but not Canadian men who married foreign women."

Veniez's urges a non-partisan approach to fixing the rights that affect Canadians. Here are a few excerpts:

In the year 2010, it is incomprehensible that the Conservative government refuses to make our Citizenship Act Charter compliant the Charter rights that most of us take for granted. But this issue was also ignored – and was given lip service by the previous Liberal government, too. This is not – and should never be – a partisan issue. It is one that touches the very essence of our citizenship.

Of particular concern is the "born out of wedlock" war bride children, born overseas before their parents married from inheriting the citizenship of their Canadian serviceman father. Despite Orders in Council granting them citizenship, the Harper government continues to ignore their rights. It's an insult to the memory of Canadian veterans and their War Bride wives since most of these children have lived their entire lives in Canada since arriving as babies with their mothers on the War Bride ships in 1946. War Brides and their children were promised citizenship upon arrival, and most of them believed they were. But as the children are discovering today, when they make application for Old Age pension or a passport, they are still being denied.

This is an unbelievable travesty.

A large number of these Lost Canadians are senior citizens who have fought for our country, paid taxes, worked hard, and have contributed to their communities in countless ways.

Yet, they are also largely forgotten and have slipped between the cracks of our current laws. They are in legal limbo.

He calls on the Harper government to introduce legislation "to correct long-standing discrimination" and to address the remaining injustices of the Canadian Citizenship Act which he calls "Canada's most basic human rights document."

He also urges the Conservative government to create an independent office for a citizenship ombudsperson who can "focus solely on the thorny issues of gender and marital status discrimination."

Finally, he writes: "The onus is laid squarely and unambiguously on our parliamentarians – from all parties – to come together to correct this despicable injustice."

Dan Veniez: The Inexplicable Tragedy of our Lost Canadians

One of the great joys of this journey to become our constituency’s next member of parliament is meeting remarkable people that fight to make a difference for their community and their country. It’s been a humbling and inspiring experience.

Click here to read the original article

Last week, I wrote about Buddy Boyd, an entrepreneur and environmental activist (no contradiction there!) who is on his way back from a groundbreaking zero-waste conference in Brazil.

In the next few weeks I’ll be writing about some of the wonderful people I’ve been meeting, from the gateway to Desolation Sound at one end of the riding to North Vancouver on the other.

For every cynic I happen to encounter, I meet 100 people that are filled with hope and optimism for what their community and country could be. The “silent majority” are those that keep me fuelled up to do more listening and to fight to serve as their voice in the House of Commons.

One such person is the incredible Don Chapman.

From his residence on the Sunshine Coast, Don has fought a national and long-standing battle to correct an inexplicable injustice. Vancouver-born Chapman lost his Canadian status as a nine year-old when his parents moved to the United States and his father took out citizenship there in 1961. Chapman led a decade long fight to get it back and with the implementation of Bill C-37 last year, he was finally able to reclaim citizenship for himself and his family. However, there are still many other Canadians, including children born abroad, who are being refused citizenship due to the gender and marital status discrimination. That discrimination is becoming inter-generational, as further generations of Canadian women are having children born abroad.

Don has taken up the cause of the Lost Canadians everywhere. There are thousands – maybe hundreds of thousands (www.lostcanadian.com). What is a “lost Canadian”? Lost Canadians are individuals and their children who lost or never had citizenship due to discriminatory provisions of the Citizen Act. Prior to 1947 the law treated women and children differently from men, stripping status from Canadian women who married foreigners - but not Canadian men who married foreign women. The 1947 Act prevented women who married foreigners and then had children abroad from passing on Canadian citizenship to their children. At the same time, Canadian men who married foreign women and had children abroad could pass on their citizenship without any problems whatsoever. Despite many Amendments to the Act over the years, including the "Lost Canadian" Bill C-37, enacted in April, 2009, the discriminatory provisions dating prior to 1947 remain in effect and continue to discriminate against women and children on the basis of gender and marital status.

In the year 2010, it is incomprehensible that the Conservative government refuses to make our Citizenship Act Charter compliant the Charter rights that most of us take for granted. But this issue was also ignored – and was given lip service by the previous Liberal government, too. This is not – and should never be – a partisan issue. It is one that touches the very essence of our citizenship.

Of particular concern is the "born out of wedlock" war bride children, born overseas before their parents married from inheriting the citizenship of their Canadian serviceman father. Despite Orders in Council granting them citizenship, the Harper government continues to ignore their rights. It's an insult to the memory of Canadian veterans and their War Bride wives since most of these children have lived their entire lives in Canada since arriving as babies with their mothers on the War Bride ships in 1946. War Brides and their children were promised citizenship upon arrival, and most of them believed they were. But as the children are discovering today, when they make application for Old Age pension or a passport, they are still being denied.

Don Chapman asks, "Is there any politician who can defend this kind of discrimination against women and their children today?"

It's a position that is politically and morally indefensible, yet, the current Minister of Citizenship, Jason Kenney, and the Prime Minister refuse to do anything about it much to the embarrassment of rights-minded Canadians who do not judge others on the basis of their gender and marital status. The continued discrimination against women and children is in violation of two Supreme Court Decisions, in particular Benner v. Canada (1997) and Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees equality of rights for all Canadians, regardless of gender or marital status.

A partial remedy—Bill C37 in 2008—restored Canadian citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Lost Canadians, but left behind thousands of other “Canadians” still affected by arcane provisions in the Citizenship Act, who have either inadvertently lost the Canadian Citizenship they once held, or—though they have spent their entire lives thinking they were Canadian—never actually held citizenship in the first place. Most affected are:

1- People born in or out of Canada to a Canadian mother and non-British status father prior to 1947.

2- People born abroad to a Canadian mother and non-Canadian father, between 1947 and 1977.

3- Some War Bride children who were born out-of-wedlock prior to 1947.

4- Certain 2nd-generation born abroad Canadians who didn’t reaffirm their citizenship by their 28th birthday.

5- Some 2nd-generation born-abroad children to a Canadian parent are stateless.

This is an unbelievable travesty.

A large number of these Lost Canadians are senior citizens who have fought for our country, paid taxes, worked hard, and have contributed to their communities in countless ways.

Yet, they are also largely forgotten and have slipped between the cracks of our current laws. They are in legal limbo.

I am calling on the Harper Government to introduce legislation to correct long-standing discrimination in the Canada Citizenship Act that still leaves thousands of Canadians in citizenship limbo. The legislation would correct the remaining injustices found in Canada’s most basic human rights document—the Citizenship Act. I am also calling on the Harper Government to create an independent Citizenship Ombudsman to focus solely on the thorny issues of gender and marital status discrimination.

My friend, Justin Trudeau, is our new Citizenship and Immigration critic in the House of Commons. I introduced him to Don and in his statement on the occasion of Citizenship Week he said: “Citizenship continues to evolve in dramatic ways. It was only in 2009 that most Canadian women gained equal rights with regards to the citizenship of their children and there continues to be a remarkable number of people whose commitment to this country is not properly acknowledged by the Citizenship Act. This week is also a time to acknowledge these lost Canadians and work towards rectifying the failures of current legislation.”

Justin has taken up this cause, as have several members of the Liberal caucus, including Marlene Jennings, Bob Rae, Ujjal Dosanjh, and John McCallum.

In the recent past, members of the Harper government have laid the blame for this legislative anomaly on “bureaucrats”. Public servants follow the laws as they are written. That’s their job, and they do it well. The onus is lay squarely and unambiguously on our parliamentarians – from all parties – to come together to correct this despicable injustice.

They have a solemn responsibility to make it right and do so without further delay or excuses. How many more Lost Canadians can our country allow to die without being officially granted their birthright?

Click here to read the original article

Citizenship Week no time for Celebration

Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, celebrated Canadian citizenship as she swore in 48 new citizens from across Canada—31 adults and 17 children—during a special public ceremony held at Rideau Hall to mark the 60th anniversary of Canadian citizenship. July 1, 2007.

By Melynda Jarratt and Don Chapman

It's Citizenship week and all across Canada the federal government is rolling out the red carpet for new Canadians at ceremonies designed to engage them in the concept of "citizenship": but not everyone is celebrating.

In every province and territory there are untold numbers of "Lost Canadians" who have been stripped of their citizenship by outdated provisions of the 1947 Citizenship Act that discriminate on the basis of gender and marital status.

It's hard to believe that in 2010, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) can take away your citizenship or reject your application on the basis of your gender or whether you were born in or out of wedlock.
Such discrimination is, after all, a violation of Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, two Supreme Court rulings on citizenship (Benner 1997 and Augier 2004), the Legitimation Act of 1927 and a host of United Nations Human Rights Conventions that are designed to prevent statelessness including the Convention on the Rights of the child.

Unfortunately, the discrimination is happening every day and the very real people in this story are proof that it's true: they run the gamut from children of Canadian War Brides who have lived in Canada their entire lives and whose sole crime was to have been born out of wedlock, to the foreign born children of Canadian women who cannot pass on citizenship because they are female. In contrast, foreign born children of Canadian men can inherit their father's citizenship.

Still other find themselves in Lost Canadian limboland because of a confusing, kafquesque system that is incapable of dealing with applications for citizenship in a humane and eficient manner. These situations are perhaps, the most frustrating, because at least with the blatant gender and marital status discrimination inherent in the 1947 Act, some Lost Canadians know the reason why they are being stripped of their citizenship.

But for many, there isn't even a reason why - other than what seems to be the glaring ineptitude of CIC employees who do not know their own legislation, who treat applicants differently across the country, granting citizenship to some while denying it to others, and whose Minister Jason Kenney, has failed to lead by resolving the issue of Lost Canadians once and for all.

Ian Munroe of Chester Basin, Nova Scotia is a perfect example of someone who should be a Canadian, but he isn't. That's because the 65 year old Scottish-born son of a Canadian War Bride and a Canadian World War Two veteran can't seem to convince anyone at Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) that he's entitled to citizenship. Why? Nobody seems to know.

It doesn't matter that Ian arrived at Halifax's Pier 21 as an infant with his war bride mother on the Queen Mary in June 1946 and that he lived here his entire life, went to school, married, raised a family and even served his country for nearly 20 years in the Canadian navy.

As far as CIC is concerned, Ian Munroe is not a Canadian citizen and after years of frustration, Ian finally gave up. The last straw was when his best friend died in the United states: Ian couldn't risk attending the funeral because he couldn't get a passport due to his citizenship problems. Last year, Ian applied for and received his British passport with little fuss. "I gave up", he said.

In New Brunswick, 94 year old Theresa Kenney likely won't be celebrating Citizenship Week either: born in Mirimachi in 1911, the former Roman Catholic nun and retired school teacher moved back to Canada six years ago after spending most of her life in the United States.

Theresa was 13 years old when her father died in Miramichi and her mother moved the family to Boston. In 1977 Theresa took out American citizenship, a move that has complicated matters because according to the old Citizenship Act, Canadians could not have dual nationality - although they can now.

Theresa's greatest wish is to die a Canadian citizen and be buried next to her father at St. Michael's Cemetery in Miramichi, but it could take years and Theresa doesn't have many of those left.

Some readers might say "Well, that's her own fault, she lived in the United States for seventy years and took out American citizenship." That may be so, but compare Theresa's treatment to Jack Babcock, Canada's last surviving World War One veteran who died last year in the United States where he had lived since the end of the First World War. At the very least, Theresa should get equal treatment.

Jack Babcock was born on July 23, 1900 in Frontenac County, Ontario. After serving in the Canadian army overseas during the First World War he moved to the US in 1919 and joined the American Army, working as an electrician. In 1946 he took out American citizenship and never looked back. In May 2007, with the death of Dwight Wilson, Jack Babcock became the last surviving World War One veteran born in Canada. Naturally, the Canadian government was concerned about the contradiction of having an American citizen as its last surviving WWI veteran so it quickly moved to grant Jack Babcock Canadian citizenship. In what only can be described as a whirlwind application, Jack had his citizenship in 21 days, hand delivered to his home in Seattle, Washington by then Minister of Veterans Affairs Greg Thompson.

Meanwhile, in Quebec, the family of another Canadian veteran, Quebec born Guy Vallieres won't be marking Citizenship Week either. They're still mourning his death last year at age 84 as a foreigner in his own country. Guy served in the Canadian Army during World War Two, lived and worked in Quebec after the war. He made the mistake of moving to the United States in 1969. He worked there for ten years and retired, collecting his Canada Pension, Quebec Pension and a pension from Canadian National Railways. But when he tried to come back in 2006 he was told that he was no longer Canadian. His family struggled for years with CIC to have Guy's citizenship restored but he died in February 2009 before it happened. On his gravestone it says: "You are a man forgotten by your country but acknowledged by the wish to be Canadian."

In Ontario, 67 year old Marion Veermeersch won't be celebrating Citizenship Week. The daughter of a British War Bride and a Canadian veteran, Marion has been told she's not a Canadian because she was born out of wedlock in Britain during the war to a British mother and a Canadian father.

The fact that Marion came to Canada as a baby on the War Bride ship the Queen Mary in June, 1946, has lived in Canada her entire life, worked, paid taxes, raised a family and even voted in elections doesn't matter to the bureaucrats at CIC. What does matter is that her parents weren't married when Marion was born and that the 1947 Citizenship Act allows for marital status discrimination.

Marion's older brother, Peter, also won't be celebrating: the child of his mother's first marriage to a British man, Peter came to Canada as a nine year old with his mother and baby sister Marion. He served more than 35 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and travelled extensively around the world until 9/11, when a simple application for a new passport triggered a re-evaluation of his citizenship status. Turns out Peter's stepfather, Sandy Barr was himself a British Home Child who was brought to Canada to work as a farm labourer in the 1920s. Sandy never thought to formally adopt Peter so as far as CIC is concerned, Peter is British, not Canadian.

Jackie Scott was born out of wedlock to a British War Bride and a Canadian servicemen overseas during the Second World War. After the war, she and her mother came to Canada and her parents married. Jackie grew up in Canada, went to school, married and had her first daughter here. In the 1970s, her husband found work in the US and they moved to California. When Jackie tried to come back to Canada she was told she had never been a Canadian because she was born out of wedlock.

And so it goes on, all across Canada, there are hundreds of Ian Munroes, Theresa Kenneys, Guy Vallieres, Marion Vermeersches, Peter Brammahs and Jackie Scotts who have been trying unsuccessfully for years, to be recognized as Canadian citizens. They've filled out their forms, paid their fees, gathered up all their documents - the decades old birth certificates, marriage certificates, proof of landings, War Bride passenger lists, even old passports and citizenship cards that CIC now says were given in error. But it's all to no avail because the Minister of Citizenship, Jason Kenney, refuses to listen.

If the Lost Canadians and their supporters sound somewhat cynical, please forgive them when they heave a sigh at news that a baby born to one of the 492 Sri Lankan refugees who landed in British Columbia on the Sun Sea in August is automatically a Canadian citizen, or that the adopted Haitian refugee children who were brought to Canada in a hurry after the January earthquake became Canadian citizens in six weeks.

It's one thing to grant immigrants, refugees and adopted children citizenship, but when a person who is actually born in Canada can lose their citizenship, there is something wrong with the system.

And when a person whose who grew up here, lived, worked, paid taxes and raised a family in Canada, - even served in the military- can lose their citizenship it is time for some serious reflection on a system that has gone awry.

All the Lost Canadians want is to be treated equally - no less, no more - and for the Minister of Citizenship Jason Kenney to give them a reason to start celebrating Citizenship Week by giving them back the citizenship they so richly deserve.

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

October 21, 2010: Megan Stewart and Darren Fleet's "Lost Canadian" series took the top award last night at the 2010 Canadian Online Publisher's Award. VO came in second place to the CBC.ca for "best overall website" in the competition's "green" category, which is for "online only publications."

Click here to read the Vancouver Observer's 10 part series on Lost Canadians

Click here to read original article in the Vancouver Observer

Stewart is a contributing editor at the Vancouver Observer and was still a student in the UBC Masters in Journalism program when she began investigating a loophole in the Canadian citizenship laws that has resulted in an injustice that may outlive thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of its victims. Fleet is a musician and filmmaker, and was also enrolled in the UBC Masters of Journalism program when he began working with Stewart on the series.

Stewart now works as a reporter for The Courier and Fleet is working on a CD with his band.

Stewart traveled to Toronto with not knowing if she would win or not. When the series was announced as the winner, she had a long way to get to the stage and moved through an audience filled with people from the Globe and Mail, the CBC, The Toronto Star, and other publications. She was back on a plane late last night and arrived in Vancouver this morning, trying to make it back in time to get started on her next story.

Click here to read the Vancouver Observer's 10 part series on Lost Canadians

Voice America: Lost Canadians with Don Chapman, Ian Munroe, Jackie Scott and Jan Makin

Click here to listen to a brand new broadcast on Lost Canadians with David Gibbons "In Discussion" on Voice America

Vancouver Observer: Government violates charter by denying citizenship to Lost Canadians, says Don Chapman

In our ongoing coverage of the Lost Canadians' story, VO brings you an op-ed by Don Chapman, advocate for Lost Canadians, and Canada's most irritating activist.

Click here to read original article in the Vancouver Observer.

Chapman, whose own battle with Canadian citizenship laws has been documented by VO, runs a website devoted to raising awareness of the plight of the so-called Lost Canadians. He was the first to use the term to describe people who have been denied Canadian citizenship through archaic and sexist laws. Bill C-37 corrected some of the these legal barriers last year, but the case of Rachel Chandler demonstrates that substantial hurdles remain.

During Thursday's Question Period in the House of Commons, Justin Trudeau, official opposition critic for Youth, Citizenship and Immigration, is set to question the government about the Lost Canadians.

Tune in at 3 pm Pacific to hear a repeat broadcast of Chapman on In Discussion with David Gibbons along with Jackie Scott, Jan Makins & Ian Munro.

But first, read what Chapman has to say to Stephen Harper:

What part of equal does this government not understand? Guaranteed under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms is section 15 which states, "Every person is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination." If the government only followed the law there wouldn't be an issue. If only.

So despite the Charter, despite a unanimous Supreme Court decision upholding equality of rights for women (Benner vs. Canada, 1997), this government still refuses to give women equal rights under the law, specifically having to do with citizenship. Here's the history: Our first form of unique "Canadian" identity went into effect in 1868, just one year after Confederation. The exact words being, "married women, minors, lunatics and idiots" were considered under the same "disability" for their national status. Hard to believe that 142 years later in the year 2010 the equality battle still rages on.

Why? Because Canada's citizenship act, the legislation currently in place giving each one of us our right of belonging in this country, pre-dates the Charter by five years. It allows discrimination, gender inequality, as well as various classes of citizenship.

Let me explain, starting with people born prior to 1947. Back then women and children were, literally, chattel of their husbands / fathers. Canadian women who married non British-status men lost their Canadian status on marriage, thus their children, if born in-wedlock, were deemed to be property of their non-Canadian fathers and not recognized as being Canadian. In the 1990's Citizenship and Immigration Canada partially recognized their mistake, rectifying it by giving these women citizenship, but CIC did it only to the women- not their children. Thus if you were born in or out of Canada to a non-British father and a Canadian mother, today you could have your citizenship and pension questioned. It matters not that maybe you never left Canada, that you grew up, voted, paid taxes, married, had a family, or maybe fought for Canada in WWII or in Korea, today you could be faced with a citizenship and pension problem. Really.

The other issue having to do with people born prior to 1947 has to do with individuals (usually children) who came to Canada without proper documentation. Orphans, adoptees, and home children are particularly vulnerable. Today, they too could be faced with a denial of citizenship and pensions. For some folks like Sandra Burke in Ontario, Rita Rouselle in New Brunswick, or Rod Burgess in Calgary, this is already happening.

The next gender specific group deals with children born between 1947 and 1977 outside of Canada to Canadian mothers and non-Canadian fathers. Unlike men, women in this situation didn't have a right to pass citizenship onto their children. The Supreme Court declared this to be blatant gender discrimination and illegal, but no matter, today the Harper government has chosen to deny citizenship to people simply because their connection to Canada came through a woman rather than a man. By doing this Canada is ignoring its obligations by violating several UN Conventions on Equality of Rights.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed. In September, 2004 the UN magazine Refugees highlighted Canada as an offending country. The bottom line, our international reputation is at stake. So too should our national pride.

To the government’s credit, in April 2009 Bill C-37 came into force to correct many outdated deficiencies in the citizenship act. While hundreds of thousands of people were positively affected, the Bill did nothing regarding the above problems as they still exist. In fact, Bill C-37 actually created a new inequity, giving immigrant Canadians more rights than many Canadian-born citizens.

It’s just so incredibly Kafkaesque.

The solution, however, is very simple. Equal rights in Canada should mean just that. No one group or one gender should be superior or conversely inferior to another. Our government should uphold and abide by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, our Supreme Court decisions, the rule of law, and our obligations to the United Nations Conventions. Stephen Harper said, "The actions of our government are guided by the principal that hate and discrimination have no place in a civilized society."

Not until all Canadians, regardless of your year of birth (prior to or post 1947), whether you were born in or out of wedlock, or your connection to Canada came through your mother rather than your father (gender equality), and all Canadians have equal rights to pass citizenship onto their children, will Mr. Harper's words truly have meaning.

Click here to read original article in the Vancouver Observer.

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

Statement from Justin Trudeau, Official Opposition Critic for Youth, Citizenship and Immigration, and Rob Oliphant, Official Opposition Critic for Multiculturalism on Citizenship Week 2010

Justin Trudeau - It is with pride that we take part in Citizenship Week 2010, a celebration of our rights as well as an acknowledgement of our responsibilities. The seven day event, running from Monday, October 18th to Sunday, October 24th, gives us an opportunity to think and talk about what it means and what it might mean in the future to carry the maple leaf.

Citizenship continues to evolve in dramatic ways. It was only in 2009 that most Canadian women gained equal rights with regards to the citizenship of their children and there continues to be a remarkable number of people whose commitment to this country is not properly acknowledged by the Citizenship Act. This week is also a time to acknowledge these lost Canadians and work towards rectifying the failures of current legislation.

For me, this week seems like a time to discuss what role we see ourselves playing on the global stage and to consider the relationship between Canada and the global village in which we today find ourselves. Will we take a leadership role in a radically changing world? Will we continue to find common values and shared projects? I think that the answer to these questions is yes, but these are not easy tasks and we’re unlikely to make it very far if we don’t undertake them together.

We still live in arguably the most dynamic and promising nation on the planet. This week should serve to remind us that it is a great honour to be a Canadian.

Rob Oliphant - Citizenship Week gives all Canadians the opportunity to renew their sense of citizenship and their pride in this great, diverse country of ours. At a ceremony in Toronto’s Flemingdon Park this Citizenship Week, I was part of welcoming sixty new Canadians who have come from twenty-nine countries around the globe.

At the Citizenship Court Judge’s invitation, those of us born in Canada joined those who have chosen Canada in pledging allegiance. I was proud to stand with these new Canadians in a joint exercise of citizenship, claiming the rights that come with it and honouring the responsibilities. I was humbled to be in the presence of those who have chosen this land, many after a difficult journey, because of our historical human rights record, our international legacy and the possibility of a better life for them and their children. And I was deeply moved to recognize that those rights and responsibilities are mine as well, shared with people of every race, religion, and ethnicity.


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Contact:

Office of Rob Oliphant, MP, 613-992-2855
Office of Justin Trudeau, MP, 613-995-8872

The Current: Ujjal Dosanjh explains his Private Member’s Bill on citizenship

Click here to listen to Ujjal Dosanj explaining his Private Members Bill to amend the Citizenship Act.

Vancouver Sun: Ireland saves Canadian's daughter from being stateless

Rachel Chandler's status highlights a policy that could see thousands of stateless children born abroad to Canadians

By Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

Click here to read original article in the Vancouver Sun


Rachel Chandler is 16 months old and the only person in her immediate family with an Irish passport.

Except for Ireland's generosity, Rachel would be stateless even though her father, Patrick, has lived all but five of his 23 years in Canada and has no citizenship other than Canadian.



Rachel was born less than two months after the Canadian government amended the Citizenship Act and stripped Canadians like Patrick of their right to pass on citizenship to their children. Rachel may well be the first of what could turn out to be thousands of stateless children born abroad to Canadians.

It's happened because the Canadian government in April 2009 amended its Citizenship Act. Ironically, the intention was to restore citizenship to a generation of so-called Lost Canadians, whose citizenship was stripped by the 1974 changes.

But Rachel is fortunate. Her paternal grandfather was born in Ireland, which allows people to claim citizenship if they have a grandparent from there.

Rachel's father Patrick was born in Libya to an Irish-born father and American-born mother (whose family roots include two generations of Canadians). Rachel's grandparents were there teaching English.

When Rachel was two, the Chandlers moved from Libya to Mississauga, Ont. where Patrick has lived 18 of his 23 years. For the last three years, he's been working in Beijing as an educational consultant where he met Fiona, Rachel's Chinese-born mother.

Rachel was also not automatically eligible for Chinese citizenship.

Unlike Canada, China doesn't automatically give citizenship to babies born there.

Secondly, the Chandlers weren't married at the time of Rachel's birth and China doesn't recognize so-called illegitimate children as citizens.

Canadian officials told the Chandlers that the only options were for Patrick to: return to Canada, either leaving behind both Rachel and Fiona, while he applied to sponsor them as immigrants under the family reunification program; or, apply on Rachel's behalf for a temporary travel document which would have allowed her to bring his daughter to Canada for three years until she would be eligible to apply for citizenship.

The problem with the second option is that it is both discretionary and that it might have meant leaving Fiona behind.

But one official had another suggestion: Try Ireland.

Ireland took Rachel in when Canada wouldn't. Without Ireland, Rachel -like millions of stateless people worldwide -would have been literally trapped, unable to leave permanently or even for vacation.

What makes this so galling to Patrick and others like him is that naturalized Canadians (i. e. immigrants) and their children can pass on citizenship to the next generation.

That's not the only unfairness. Children born overseas to Canadian government employees working there aren't deemed to be Canadian born either.

So foreign-born children of diplomats' kids born abroad are now stateless. So are some grandchildren of Armed Forces personnel who were serving overseas when their kids were born.

Vancouver MP Ujjal Dosanjh's private member's bill is on track to fix those oversights. But the bill doesn't deal with others like Chandler. Not only was Dosanjh not fully aware of the problems faced by other Canadians when he first proposed it, Dosanjh says he's deliberately kept the scope narrow because it may be the only way for the bill to make it through the House of Commons and into law.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Expat Association is lobbying on behalf of its members like Chandler. So is the Canadian Council of Refugees, which warned of the implications of rendering children of Canadians stateless long before the 2009 amendments were made.

And so is Don Chapman, whose earlier efforts were aimed at restoring citizenship to the previous generations of Lost Canadians.

Like the refugee council, Chapman warned long before the amendments were enacted that it would result in more Lost Canadians.

Nobody in government listened.

Nobody wants Canadian citizenship to become meaningless because it's so easily obtained that generations can have it without even bothering to step foot into the country.

But the government should have listened to what Chapman proposed.

Immigrants need to spend only three years here before being eligible for citizenship. So Chapman argues that the Canadians born abroad who can prove that they've spent three years in the country should also have the full rights of citizenship, including the privilege of being able to pass it on to their children.

It's a simple solution. And unlike the current legislation, it seems fair even if Canada were to require that those three years be spent here before a person's 30th birthday.

dbramham@vancouversun.com

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun


Click here to read original article in the Vancouver Sun

Telegraph Journal: Miramichi-born senior citizen says she'll continue to push for her Canadian citizenship

Page A5, Benjamin Shingler, Telegraph-Journal

Click here to read original article in the Telegraph Journal

MIRAMICHI - Sitting in her tidy Miramichi bungalow, Theresa Kenney smiles as she clutches a small Canadian flag.

The energetic 94-year-old has been fighting to be recognized as a Canadian citizen ever since she returned to her country of birth six years ago.

Born in Miramichi, Kenny moved to Boston, Mass. with her mother when she was 13 years old, shortly after her father died.

She has lived in the United States for most of her life, most recently in Florida, but returned to Miramichi in 2004.

Later this fall, Kenney expects to finally receive her permanent residency status, which means her medical treatments will be covered under medicare.

But she is concerned she may have to wait several more years before finally being recognized as a Canadian citizen.

"If I have to wait another three years, I may not be around to receive it. I may have gone to the other side," says Kenney, a former Catholic nun and retired school teacher.

When the time comes, Kenney says she plans to be buried at the fabled St Michael's Cemetery in Miramichi, in a plot next to her father's.

"I love Canada," she says. "And I wanted to be near my father."

Kenney says she filed all the necessary paperwork long ago, but was told it had been misplaced, forcing further delays and meetings with immigration officials in Moncton.

Her local MLA Bill Fraser, along with outgoing Minister of State for Seniors Cheryl Lavoie, has been pressing Ottawa to speed up the process.

Fraser says he has been following her case since 2007, but grew increasingly concerned earlier this year after Kenney injured her hand, and found that she couldn't receive proper medical attention because she wasn't covered under medicare.

"I called immigration myself, and they said, 'It takes many, many years,' and I said, 'She doesn't have many years," recalls Fraser, who was re-elected last month as the Liberal MLA for Miramichi-Bay du Vin.

"When she passes away, she wants to be buried as a Canadian citizen in Chatham."

Kenney's situation is not uncommon, according to citizenship advocate Don Chapman.

He says hundreds of thousands of Canadian citizens have been stripped of their citizenship by "arcane provisions" of the 1947 Citizenship Act.

Chapman says there are at least a dozen ways for Canadians to lose their citizenship.

In Kenney's case, she appears to have complicated matters because she became an American citizen prior to 1977.

"If we are truly going to be the compassionate and caring country we believe that we are, then this is kind of situation that we need to address," says Chapman, who is pushing the federal government to reform the system.

Canadian Citizenship and Immigration did not return a request for comment Thursday.

"If I had known this process would have taken as long as it has, I probably never would have started it," Kenney says. "If I was a good politician, I would try to simplify it."

Blog: The Face of Statelessness - Canadian Style

From the blog "Clouds, Clocks and Sitting at Tables: A blog about doing and teaching Comparative Politics and International Relations, with some Southeastern European Politics thrown in to spice things up"

Last week I asked if all the world’s residents have citizenship. We discovered that the answer is `no’ and that there are approximately 15 million stateless persons worldwide. On the way to work this morning, I was listening to the CBC program The Current, which reported on the peculiar story of a young girl living in Belgium, whose father is a Canadian citizen, but who is currently not a citizen of any country. She does not fulfill the requirements of Belgian citizenship (which does not have universal jus soli citizenship rules), and as of last year falls through a loophole in Canadian citizenship law as of changes in the law that were enacted last year. Click here for more....

CBC The Current: Citizens of Nowhere

Click here to listen to "Citizens of Nowhere" a Current feature on the citizenship problems facing children of Canadian citizens who are the second generation born abroad.

Chloe Goldring is 15 months old. She lives in Brussels, Belgium. And she has no citizenship. She is officially stateless. She has ended up in this situation because of a change made to the Canadian Citizenship Act in April of 2009.

Since then Canadians who were born abroad, in this case her father, are no longer able to pass on Canadian citizenship to their children, unless those children are born in Canada. The change was brought in to target parents born outside Canada who come here, obtain citizenship, and then return to their country of origin and pass along Canadian citizenship to children who may never have any intention of coming to Canada.

You may remember this became an issue in the summer of 2006 when there was a public outcry over Canada's move to rescue Lebanese Canadians during the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon that summer. Well that is the change that Chloe Goldring has been swept up in.

Chloe's father Ian Goldring is a Canadian who lives in Brussels.

Citizens of Nowhere - Janet Dench

Janet Dench says she warned the federal government that people such as Chloe could be made stateless by the changes it was making to the Citizenship Act. She's the Executive Director of the Canadian Council for Refugees. She was in Montreal.

Citizens of Nowhere - Nicole Girard

We requested an interview with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. His office didn't respond to the request. But Nicole Girard agreed to join us. She's the Director of Legislation and Program Policy at Citizenship and Immigration Canada. She was in Ottawa.

Vancouver Observer: Canadian citizenship drama broadcast on national U.S. radio

Since the Vancouver Observer first reported the story of Jackie Scott and others like her who are denied Canadian citizenship because of archaic and sexist laws, Don Chapman has not tired. This is a tedious and tenacious man, after all.

Click here to read original article in the Vancouver Observer.

Chapman is the advocate who first labelled himself and thousands more as "Lost Canadians." Now he is again bending the ear of elected representatives in Ottawa.

Citizenship laws in this country have been amended five times because of Chapman's tenacity and his ability to sustain (in energy and wealth) decades' worth of advocacy and travel. Now the Vancouver-born man deemed a Canadian landed immigrant for most of his adult life is making headway on his lifelong goal. He is no longer the only one who believes the Citizenship Act should be rewritten, not merely revised.

Today, VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network will broadcasting an interview with Chapman, Canadian historian Melynda Jarratt and three Members of Parliament. Host David Gibbons asks Marlene Jennings, Liberal representative in suburban Montreal, what citizenship laws say about Canada's record on human rights. She echoes Jarratt: these laws bring us shame and embarrassment: "There remains gender discrimination in our Citizenship Act..."

Andrew Telegdi, Liberal MP in Kitchener - Waterloo, said the act is "dysfunctional." "It is creating 'lost Canadians' as we speak."

How can this be happening in Canada? Read more here on the VO as we push for answers and seek analysis. And listen to this 50-minute conversation on VoiceAmerica to understand more about our Canadian laws.

Listen now.

Click here to read original article in the Vancouver Observer.