Lost Canadians: Reaction to the Reactions
The 'Lost Canadians' bill passed earlier this week, allowing "[...] automatic citizenship to children born or adopted abroad to a Canadian parent also born outside the country."
I've seen lots of reactions on this, with many people freaking out about 'chain immigration' and citizenship in Canada becoming way too easy. Very understandable given the anti-immigration climate around the world atm. But buried in this thread is a reaction to the reactions from the head of the Lost Canadians initiative, Don Chapman.
One of the reasons why I <3 Reddit, because this take goes so much deeper than what MSM might cover. Some highlights for me:
- Arguments that the bill will cause "endless chain migration" aren't substantiated by numbers. The legislation requires a Canadian parent to have been physically present in Canada for 1,095 days prior to a child's birth to confer citizenship, making it impossible for citizenship to be passed down endlessly by generations who have never lived in Canada.
- The bill rectifies the 1947 Citizenship Act's gender discrimination, which historically allowed men to pass citizenship to children and grandchildren but denied women the same right. Chapman notes that while the Indian Act was amended to provide gender equality, the Citizenship Act remains non-compliant with the Charter in this regard.
- Historical data reveals that only a tiny fraction (1-2%) of eligible "Lost Canadians" actually apply for citizenship; despite estimates of millions eligible under previous bills, only about 20,000 applied over 16 years.