Second class citizens - Part 1
April 29, 2009If you were to ask me what I consider to be the greatest benefit of being a Canadian, I'd say it's that I get to pass citizenship on to my children. While it's still true for me, its no longer the case for one of my kids who happened to be born in the U.S..
My son was born in Boston because we knew that he would require a life-saving operation right after birth and my wife's Canadian obstetrician recommended a surgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Thankfully, everything worked out and our 10 year old child is perfectly healthy today. However, the fact that he is foreign-born means that he will not be able to pass on Canadian citizenship to his children. If his children are to be Canadian citizens, they will have to be born in Canada or their mother will have to be Canadian-born.
The practice of allowing all Canadian citizens to pass Canadian citizenship to their descendants, in perpetuity, has ended. As of April 17, 2009, new citizenship rules make it so that any person born abroad to Canadian parents will be a Canadian only if their mother or father was born in Canada, or if one or more of their parents became a naturalized citizen by immigrating to Canada. The only exception provided is for people who are born to a Canadian parent working abroad in or with the Canadian Armed Forces or for the Federal or a Provincial Government. For such people, citizenship is automatic at birth even though the person is a second- or subsequent generation Canadian-born abroad.
A little background is in order here. The tightening of citizenship requirements is the government's way of squeezing out "Canadians of Convenience" who rose to prominent disfavor during the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon. Canada evacuated some 15,000 passport holders from the war zone at a cost of over $80 million in taxpayer money. Many Canadians were angry; and then angrier still, when they learned that almost half of those rescued chose to return to Lebanon once a ceasefire was declared.
According to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, the new rule was implemented to prohibit people who permanently live outside Canada and never pay taxes from passing on citizenship to their children.
Look, I get it. Most everyone would agree that Canada should not provide subsidized education, public health-care that is free at the point of delivery and full consular services without asking anything in return. It is just not fair to the vast majority of Canadians who choose to stay in Canada permanently, raise their families here, pay taxes and generally contribute to build a better country.
My objection is not to the intent but rather to the method adopted. There were other more equitable options that could accomplish the government's goals. For one thing, why make an exception for children born to Canadian parents who work abroad for the government but not extend the same right to a child born to a Canadian parent who works abroad in the private sector? I submit that a Canadian employed by the Royal Bank of Canada and posted to the overseas operations in London, England is as worthy as a Federal Government worker posted to Beijing. Otherwise, it just smacks of entitlement and reminds me of the privileges bestowed on party apparatchiki in the former Soviet Union. What's more, why the need for an all-or-nothing policy with regard to the "born in Canada" requirement? Our neighbors to the south, for example, take a less Draconian approach to the same subject matter. In the U.S., a foreign-born American can only pass on citizenship if he or she has lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years, two of which must be after reaching 14 years of age... clearly a more sensible and realistic solution for the globalized world of today.
I would like to know how you feel about this.
7 Comments:
I agree. I think that Canada should allow citizenship to foreign born children of Canadian citizens and residents only if they have lived there for a set number of years AND if they have actually paid Canadian taxes! As a US citizen, I pay taxes wherever I live in the world with some income limits. I am also a French citizen and have never paid any French taxes but have benefited from French scholarships. I guess I could justify it morally by saying that my French dad always paid his French taxes; but at some point, it becomes ridiculous doesn't it?
And it gets more complicated than that: I was born in Switzerland, and raised in France and Germany. Since Switzerland and France had paternal citizenship laws when I was born and my father was a French citizen studying in Switzerland, I became a French citizen by default and later also a German citizen by petition due to my mother's German citizenship. When I became a naturalized US citizen, I lost the German citizenship but not the French since one can't lose it but by official petition.
So, it looks like the Canadian laws are (or were) quite similar to the French laws that never require any actual residency in France in order to stay French. As long as my kids register their kids at the local French consulate, they'll be French too and will never have to step foot on French soil nor will they ever have to pay any French taxes. However, they'll be eligible for a number of taxpayer financed benefits. But then the French have always had a desire to keep as many people French for as long as possible... That may have been the case with Canada too.
I can understand the idea behind the new regulations, but think that it is a bit extreme. If a child is born outside of Canada because his/her parents are working or happen to be outside of Canada, it seems a bit harsh to discriminate against the child, who had no say in where he/she was born. I think that down the line, this new rule will cause dissent amoung the foreign Canadians as well as a decline in patriotism too. Only time will tell.
I do believe that in some cases it is unfair. An example; a mother who is Canadian born working in the private sector in Africa getting married with a non-Canadian can have a child who would automatically be a Canadian as the rule says “one of the parents”. However; parents (a father and a mother) of a second- or subsequent generation Canadian-born abroad who had been living in Canada most of their lives and paying taxes, yet for a reason or another had a child born abroad as close as in the US for instance, would not be able to grant the citizenship to their child automatically, though they are returning home to Canada shortly.
Yet; these are rare cases that should be considered in the eyes of the law, but generally it is unfair as well to say that a second or subsequent generation Canadian who never lived in Canada and never paid any taxes and never contributed to the Canadian society should be able and have the privilege to grant automatic Canadian Citizenship to their children born abroad.
ZIAD HADDAD
hat's the procedure if my husband is holding acanadian passport and working in an other country but still he is paying all the taxes in canada and his wife not canadian and living with him and expecting a baby in the foreign country
please could just inform me what the case will be ?
thx
I am a child of canadian parents.My father was in the service and I was born in france.When I started to think about getting a passport to go visit my daughter in the states is when I found out just how complicated that was.I was told I would need a citizenship card in order to get a passport.Well what you find out when they send you the application is unlike children that where born in canada It will cost much more then it would for a birth certificate and then you have to wait ten months to get this citizenship card.I for one am very upset at this because I was raised believing I was a Canadian I have a sin number,a drivers license,I pay taxes,as a child I went to school here all my life,I was married here ,my children where born here and now they are telling me I need a card to tell them I am canadian.You see my mother has no idea where my R.O.B. paper is it's been that long ago so now I have to go though all this because they no longer send you copies of your R.O.B. paper.Well I refuse to pay more then it would cost to get a birth certificate.A birth certificate in Nova Scotia costs $29.70 but a citizenship card costs over $80.00. A birth certificate takes 4 to 6 weeks to come in a citizenship card takes 10 months. I just don't think that is fair.I AM A CANADIAN CITIZEN BY BIRTH.And at the age of 50 I don't intend to change what or who I am.I AM CANADIAN!!!!!!
People we meet and have to see on a regular basis can have a negative affect on your life and self-confidence, but only if you let them. I am a person who would get dragged down by any negative comment made from a friend or by my boss for example.i got good tips from this article; how to deal with these situations and how to not let these people and their comments make you feel like a second class citizen.
I think birth is not in the hand of the child.he/she cannot decide the place.but their origin cannot be undermined.this new regulation might not put up much positive view.do not know.lets see.
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