"What does it matter that maple leaves adorn tombstones of various cemeteries in Europe...? Canada has lost none of its nationals during the last two World Wars, at least not officially," begins an article recently published in Le Monde, France's most famous newspaper.
"Because, according to Ottawa, Canadian citizenship never existed before the Citizenship Act on January 1, 1947."
It's a fact many Canadians don't consider as government officials honour soldiers on Remembrance Day, but the feds' official position is that Canadians who died during the world wars were never citizens, since they claim modern citizenship law only came into effect after the fighting ended.
That 1947 cutoff date poses enormous challenges for certain Canadians today. A 92-year-old Canadian war veteran, and an Ontario-raised war veteran's daughter are among those still fighting to be recognized as citizens, due in part because of their pre-1947 birthdate.
Thanks very much for publishing this article: I tried to send a comment yesterday but was apparently not successful.
ReplyDeleteI am one of the Lost Canadians, "Children of War Brides" group, who had citizenship stripped in 2003-4 and am still without it. My Dad was a farm labourer in Ontario who signed up when WWII was imminent. He served as a sergeant in the Royal Canadian Artillery, D-Day, Liberation etc. At the end of the war, he returned to Ontario followed in1946 by my mother(his War Bride), my brother and I. We farmed, worked, contributed like any other Canadians (my brother served in the Canadian Navy for 25 years) and never had a problem with citizenship until 2003-4. We were rudely told, to our shock, that our citizenship was stripped and we should never have been given it in the first place. I was told I could be charged with federal offences for having voted all those years! I am thankful that my parents never knew they were not Canadian. I have my mother's documents which clearly state we would be given Canadian citizenship upon arrival at Pier 21 in 1946.
I would like my citizenship back but, more than that, I want my Dad and all those countless thousands of pre-1947 veterans recognized once more as Canadians, not merely British subjects. This is, I think disgraceful and it is also consistent with the way our present-day veterans are being treated. This should be fixed, and should never happen to another group of people, especially those who served their country when needed.
Thank you Marion, It is always nice to know that I am not talking to the wind when I post on my blog. Your plight and that of your father is of great concern to many Canadians and should be of concern to all, if a government can make that distinction as they did for your father then we should all stand up and shout "enough" at the top of our lungs.
DeleteI have taken the liberty of poting your comment to me on the blog and on CRUSH (Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper) a proactive FB group concerned with your position as well as that of all Canadians with this governments rhetoric and inaction.
I truly hope that you see this injustice rectified in the very near future.
I thank your father for his service and for my liberty.
Sorry this comment appeared more than once: I did have difficulty getting it to "publish" - any way you can delete one?. But thank you, Bob: it is always nice to know that someone listens! This has been a long, frustrating battle. Our group (but not four other equally deserving ones) was addressed in the legislation in June but we still don't know details or when it might be implemented. Some applied for grants(only good from date of grant forward) but were turned down.
DeleteI would rather wait than see this insistence continued saying that those veterans, pre-1947, were never citizens.
Thanks,
Marion