Dual citizenship faces review
Evacuation from Lebanon hastened rethinking
I should bloody hope so!
Out of about fifteen thousand people who were evacuated from Lebanon at the expense of the Canadian taxpayer, some seven thousand of them have gone home again!
Without so much as a thanks, a nod, or a kiss-my-ass.
Time to make new policy. I for one am tired of having my pocket picked every time some damned citizen-of-convenience is afraid to go to sleep in the dark and wants Canada to come change the bulb in his nightlight or bring him in to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed.
This is the Citizenship Act as it now stands. It's not that long (compared to other government documents, I mean), and it's only a little obfuscatory in language. Take a look at it and see just how wide open it is for abuse.
This is an interesting piece of information, as well. It seems that not every country in the world leaks like a sieve when it comes to citizenship laws. Some countries do not recognize dual citizenship. Matter of fact, there are some countries which will not recognize that their natural citizens have taken citizenship in another country at all -- Singapore being a given example.
We ought to be able to find an answer somewhere towards the middle of the two extremes, eh?
I should bloody hope so!
Out of about fifteen thousand people who were evacuated from Lebanon at the expense of the Canadian taxpayer, some seven thousand of them have gone home again!
Without so much as a thanks, a nod, or a kiss-my-ass.
Time to make new policy. I for one am tired of having my pocket picked every time some damned citizen-of-convenience is afraid to go to sleep in the dark and wants Canada to come change the bulb in his nightlight or bring him in to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed.
This is the Citizenship Act as it now stands. It's not that long (compared to other government documents, I mean), and it's only a little obfuscatory in language. Take a look at it and see just how wide open it is for abuse.
This is an interesting piece of information, as well. It seems that not every country in the world leaks like a sieve when it comes to citizenship laws. Some countries do not recognize dual citizenship. Matter of fact, there are some countries which will not recognize that their natural citizens have taken citizenship in another country at all -- Singapore being a given example.
We ought to be able to find an answer somewhere towards the middle of the two extremes, eh?
posted by Chimera at 9:17 AM
14 Comments:
It's quite unfortunate that the "Lebanan Rescue" has motivated this debate at all; the fact of the matter is that normally, a person being "rescued" from another nation DOES get a bill for the services rendered.
Who knows why this decision not to bill the evacuated persons was made, this time around?
But to use this incident as any kind of logical rationalle to take a second look at dual citizenship is not really a logical rationalle at all.
If anything, blame Stephen Harper or whoever it was for making the decision to not charge the evacuated persons.
And yes, I hold dual citizenship :)
We ought to be able to find an answer somewhere towards the middle of the two extremes, eh?
That's why I hired you for the position dude....lol.
If anything, blame Stephen Harper or whoever it was for making the decision to not charge the evacuated persons.
I heard this the other day, and am almost inclined to agree with it. The only thing is how do you collect $5500 bucks from someone living in Lebanon making 50 bucks a month?
"The only thing is how do you collect $5500 bucks from someone living in Lebanon making 50 bucks a month? "
Notice is provided that if you travel, and require emergency assistance to get home, payment will be required. Don't max out your credit card, just in case.
It's called responsibility for oneself and for where one decides to travel to along with some risk analysis for oneself.
I agree completely ian, but I still think collection would be impossible. It seems that most of these people were not travellers, but rather residents with "convenient" Canadian passports, I doubt they make $5500 a year.
What I would like to see is that if the people were actually legitimate travellers and DID pay the majority of their taxes in Canada, then sure we pay to get them out. If they aren't, foot the bill and revoke their passports.....period....
I don't mind paying to evacuate "actual" Canadians, it's the "convenient" Canadians I won't pay for....
Hey Dazzlin and Chimera,
I hold dual citizenship but don't consider myself to be a citizen of convenience. I have lived in Canada for over 3 decades and have been a citizen for over 25 years. My wife and kids are Canadian, I vote in every election, I pay my taxes, I have never been arrested, I donate to charity and I even volunteer now and then. I consider myself to be a Canadian first and an Englishman second. I have been a Canadian citizen for so long that I feel a strong sense of identity with Canada. I consider it to be the best country in the world and when I travel I proudly tell everyone that I am Canadian.
This potential legislation upsets me. It makes it clear that I am a second rate citizen because the nation that I love so much would revoke my citizenship if I took a job somewhere else and stayed away too long.
Singing the anthem at hockey games is going to be a lot less meaningful to me if this thing happens.
Lukily my kids were born here, so they get to be "real" Canadians for their entire lives.
Psychols, why don't you take a job in all the countries dual citizenship is allowed?
The concept of dual citizenship is retarded.
Bacon, Why don't you learn to read and understand a comment before posting a reply. Your comment is retarded.
psychols: Sounds to me like you won't have to worry about being tagged as a citizen-of-convenience. You came here from England? Now you've got Canadian citizenship, family, work; you pay your taxes, etc. In other words, you're a resident naturalized citizen!
Big, big difference from the ones who stayed here only long enough to fulfil their residency requirements for citizenship and then scarpered back whence they came with that precious Canadian passport in their hot little hands!
I don't consider dual citizenship to be unmanageable or (as BEAJ puts it) retarded. But. I do think that when you accept citizenship in a country in which you were not born, you have an obligation to be an active citizen in that country.
Why would you want to continue being a Canadian citizen if you suddenly decided to move out of Canada and live/work elsewhere?
Chimera,
The only reason I would leave Canada for an extended period would be in the event of an exceptional job offer and that would probably come from the US. In my heart, Canada would always remain be "home" and I would almost certainly return. In reality, leaving Canada is unlikely.
It is not so much the practicality of being Canadian as the emotional attachment I have to Canada. If my citizenship suddenly became conditional I would feel like a second rate citizen. It is hard to explain but my sense of identity as a Canadian would be diminished. It would be a little like being dumped by your girlfriend.
*sigh* Nobody except you is responsible for how you "feel" about anything. If you don't want to be dumped by your girlfriend, then make a better effort to keep your girlfriend happy.
In a previous post, I outlined how a naturalized Canadian could keep citizenship if he were to leave the country for an extended period:
http://intothecavern.blogspot.com/2006/08/making-policy.html#links
And in case nobody has noticed, we do have a "class" system in this country. If you don't want to feel second-class, then don't act second-class!
Blah blah blah, nobody is responsible for how you feel except you, blah blah blah. If you don't want to lose your girlfriend ... blah blah. Read my stupid post about people staying in the country more than half the year blah blah blah
Your bigotry has become all to clear to me and I shall have nothing further to do with you.
Bigotry??? Where the fuck did that come from?
Whaddaya want -- carte blanche for immigrant citizens to get that precious passport and then fly off to all points, paying no taxes, making no contributions to society, but demanding and getting the taxpayers to fund any and all "oopsies" they get themselves into in the rest of the world? Because that's about the flavor of what just happened in Lebanon.
You say you don't consider yourself to be a citizen of convenience; and you don't act like a citizen of convenience. Doesn't it piss you off just a little bit that there are those citizens of convenience out there, picking your pocket and making you pay for the shit they get into without ever intending to pay you back? And that they're getting away with it?
Because it sure as hell pisses me off!
So where does bigotry come into it?
Wonder why there was no fuss or news (that I saw or read) about people being evacuated from Israel? There were attacks on Israeli cities. Surely people evacuated. So, why was there no press on that? I'll bet a lot of them were Canadian and American. Were they less important than the ones in Lebanon? Is it because they were probably Jews? I'm seeing more and more anti-Semitism, sometimes disguised as anti-Israeli feeling, sometimes not. It bothers me. A lot.
Cait: I had not thought about it until you mentioned it, but I don't remember seeing or hearing anything about evacuations from Israel, either.
Perhaps there weren't any Israeli evacuations? Do ya thinks that's possible? Or if there were Israeli evacuations, maybe they paid for it themselves, and we don't get to hear about it because nobody forced the taxpayers in their respective "home" countries to pick up the tab?
Post a Comment
<< Home