Canadians of convenience
Encyclopedia
The term "Canadians of convenience" was coined by Canadian politician Garth Turner
in 2006 in conjunction with the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon
during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
. It is a pejorative term intended to refer to people with multiple citizenship
who immigrated to Canada, met the residency requirement to obtain citizenship, obtained and moved back to their original home country while maintaining their Canadian citizenship, with those who support the term claiming they do so as a safety net
.
Statistics and analyses are unavailable on the distinction between evacuees who were long-term residents of Lebanon and those who were not and on how many of the long-term residents had returned to Lebanon immediately after acquiring their Canadian citizenship.
of the Toronto Sun
) earlier during the conflict in Lebanon, it was made most prominent by posts by Garth Turner
, a then Conservative
MP for Halton
, on his blog
, and the subsequent reactions. Turner questioned the fairness of paying CAD$75,000 for each evacuee, saying, among other things, "that’s a hell of a lot of money to donate to people who do not live here, don’t pay taxes here, and may never come here again in their lives." The actual cost was about $6,300 for each evacuee ($94 million for 15,000 people).
The National Post has asserted, that of the 15,000 evacuated, about 7,000 may have returned to Lebanon within a month of being evacuated.
, can essentially never be revoked), leave the country, and only call upon their Canadian citizenship again when in need of the publicly-funded Medicare
or emergency evacuation
from a war zone
.
The Economist
noted that "Of the 5.5 million Canadians born abroad, 560,000 declared in the most recent census that they hold passports from another country. "
said he plans to review current practice.
Canada permits multiple citizenship
. For citizens of countries like China or Singapore which do not allow multiple citizenship, those who become Canadian citizens often lose their original citizenship if the original country learns of the Canadian citizenship, and the Canadian citizens generally are required to renounce their Canadian citizenship for naturalisation in that country.
Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism said the following in the House of Commons of Canada on June 10, 2010: "...That’s why we must protect the values of Canadian citizenship and must take steps against those who would cheapen it....We will strengthen the new limitation on the ability to acquire citizenship for the second generation born abroad."
The new rules would not confer a Canadian citizenship on children born outside of Canada to one or both parents who are themselves Canadian citizens by birth outside of Canada. Thus the new rule makes a distinction between Canadian citizens born in Canada and those born outside of Canada, a stance that the Supreme Court of Canada
has ruled against. In a scenario the new rules would apply like this: A child is born abroad in 2005 ("before" the new rules came in effect) to a naturalized Canadian citizen father, and a foreign mother who is "only" a Permanent Resident of Canada. Child automatically becomes a Canadian citizen through a simple registration process. Another child born ´´on vacation´´ abroad after April 17, 2009 in the same scenario would not be considered a Canadian citizen. The child is considered born past "first generation limitation" and the parents (the father) would have to sponsor the child to Canada through an onerous process to become a Permanent Resident, even though the child may have other siblings who are Canadian citizens by the same parents. Once the Permanent Residency is granted, a Canadian parent can apply for Canadian citizenship on behalf of the child, without the required three-year-residency rule, however.
The above scenario is untrue. The first generation limit only applies to children born abroad to Canadian parents whose only claim to Canadian citizenship is based on the fact that they were born abroad to a Canadian parent. (See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/faq/citizenship/index.asp#rules)
However, prior to the introduction of the first generation limit to citizenship by descent, there already existed a distinction between children born in Canada and children born abroad in Section 8 of the Citizenship Act 1977 in the sense that children born abroad had to apply to retain their Canadian citizenship before their 28th birthday. However, there is debate whether this distinction is merely a procedural one rather than in law.
, if the parents were also born outside Canada. New Canadian exclusionary citizenship rules limit the scope of those eligible for citizenship. In contrast, some other countries have citizenship laws that favour ancestry as well as birth. Israel's Law of Return
confers Israeli citizenship to all those with Jewish ancestry wishing to reside in Israel, for example, in the case of Persian Jews
, some of whom have not lived within the bounds of the modern State of Israel
for 2,700 years. German Right of return
allows persons of German descent living in Eastern Europe from as early as 18th century such as Volga Germans to return to Germany and claim German citizenship. Russia offers citizenship to individuals descended from Russian ancestors
who can demonstrate an affinity for Russian culture and, preferably, speak Russian. Concern about Russia's shrinking population
prompted the program. (See main article Right of return
). A non-exhaustive list of at least 27 countries and a Palestinian National Authority
have favourable citizenship rules based on ancestry as well as birth .
However, these types of ethnicity/ancestry-based citizenship policies are not without shortcomings. In a case of Turkish guest workers
and Koreans in Japan it was generally not possible for them to become a citizen of a country of their birth.
New restricted citizenship rules may also exacerbate population ageing
in Canada. Canadian parents of children born abroad (and unable to come to Canada) may choose not to return to Canada themselves rather than go through the hassle of obtaining a visitor visa
or Permanent Residency for their child. Statistics Canada
own population projection study published in December 2005 states that: Canada's population is ageing fast and senior citizens would outnumber children in about a decade, according to new population projections. In all growth scenarios considered for this study, seniors aged 65 and over would become more numerous than children aged less than 15 around the year 2015. This would be an unprecedented situation in Canada.
Another criticism the bill has attracted arises because of the proposed ´´first generation limit´´ cut-off described above. Under the bill, a person who is the second or subsequent generation born abroad to a Canadian parent may be stateless if he or she does not acquire citizenship of the state of birth, or through his or her other parent. Canada is a contracting state to the United Nations’ Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
.(34) Under article 4 of that Convention, a contracting state is required to grant its nationality to a person not born in the territory of the contracting state, who would otherwise be stateless, if the nationality of one or both of the person’s parents at the time of the person’s birth was that of the contracting state. Such a grant of nationality may be subject to certain stipulated conditions, however. The provision included in Bill C-37 to deal with statelessness is compliant with the Convention, but only minimally so.
its intention to revoke the citizenship of 1,800 people it believes obtained their status through "fraudulent" means, and residing abroad.
The decision to revoke citizenship is rare, and a large-scale crackdown such as this one is unprecedented. Fewer than 70 citizenships have ever been revoked since the Citizenship Act was passed in 1947.
The move will most likely affect individuals from the Middle East and Persian Gulf countries, as well as China.
Garth Turner
John Garth Turner, PC is a Canadian business journalist, best-selling author, entrepreneur, broadcaster, financial advisor and politician, twice elected as a Member of the House of Commons, former Minister of National Revenue and leadership candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada...
in 2006 in conjunction with the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War #Other uses|Tammūz]]) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War , was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon, northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. The principal parties were Hezbollah...
. It is a pejorative term intended to refer to people with multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...
who immigrated to Canada, met the residency requirement to obtain citizenship, obtained and moved back to their original home country while maintaining their Canadian citizenship, with those who support the term claiming they do so as a safety net
Safety net
A safety net is in most cases a net to protect people from injury after falling by limiting the distance they fall. It may also be a device to arrest falling or flying objects for the safety of people beyond the net....
.
Statistics and analyses are unavailable on the distinction between evacuees who were long-term residents of Lebanon and those who were not and on how many of the long-term residents had returned to Lebanon immediately after acquiring their Canadian citizenship.
Coining of the term
Although the term was used by others (such as Peter WorthingtonPeter Worthington
Peter Worthington is a Canadian journalist. A foreign correspondent with the Toronto Telegram newspaper from 1956, Worthington was an eyewitness to the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963, and can be seen in photographs of the event. He remained with the Telegram until it folded in 1971...
of the Toronto Sun
Toronto Sun
The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...
) earlier during the conflict in Lebanon, it was made most prominent by posts by Garth Turner
Garth Turner
John Garth Turner, PC is a Canadian business journalist, best-selling author, entrepreneur, broadcaster, financial advisor and politician, twice elected as a Member of the House of Commons, former Minister of National Revenue and leadership candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada...
, a then Conservative
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
MP for Halton
Halton (electoral district)
Halton is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1988 and again since 1997. Its population in 2001 was 100,055.-Geography:...
, on his blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, and the subsequent reactions. Turner questioned the fairness of paying CAD$75,000 for each evacuee, saying, among other things, "that’s a hell of a lot of money to donate to people who do not live here, don’t pay taxes here, and may never come here again in their lives." The actual cost was about $6,300 for each evacuee ($94 million for 15,000 people).
The National Post has asserted, that of the 15,000 evacuated, about 7,000 may have returned to Lebanon within a month of being evacuated.
Support of the term
Turner was criticized by some for suggesting that there are two classes of Canadian citizens. Other editorials supported the use of the phrase Canadians of convenience and said many immigrants meet their minimum residence requirement to gain Canadian citizenship (which, since 1977History of Canadian nationality law
Canada established its own nationality law in 1946 with the enactment of the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946, which took effect on 1 January 1947. It was the second nation in the then British Commonwealth to establish its own nationality law; the first was the Irish Free State, which was a...
, can essentially never be revoked), leave the country, and only call upon their Canadian citizenship again when in need of the publicly-funded Medicare
Medicare (Canada)
Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...
or emergency evacuation
Emergency evacuation
Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
from a war zone
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
.
The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
noted that "Of the 5.5 million Canadians born abroad, 560,000 declared in the most recent census that they hold passports from another country. "
Government policy
The official policy of the government of Canada is that a dual-citizen is the responsibility of the foreign government when living in the foreign country; however, in practice Canada generally does not distinguish between dual-citizen and single-citizen Canadians, as was the case during the 2006 evacuation from Lebanon. Prime Minister Stephen HarperStephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
said he plans to review current practice.
Canada permits multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship
Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...
. For citizens of countries like China or Singapore which do not allow multiple citizenship, those who become Canadian citizens often lose their original citizenship if the original country learns of the Canadian citizenship, and the Canadian citizens generally are required to renounce their Canadian citizenship for naturalisation in that country.
Amendments to Citizenship Act
Resentment of Canadian citizens evacuated from Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict spurred Bill C-37, to amend the Citizenship Act. A new law came into effect on April 17, 2009. One of the changes instituted by the Government of Canada, is the "first generation limitation". Jason KenneyJason Kenney
Jason T. Kenney, PC, MP is Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism said the following in the House of Commons of Canada on June 10, 2010: "...That’s why we must protect the values of Canadian citizenship and must take steps against those who would cheapen it....We will strengthen the new limitation on the ability to acquire citizenship for the second generation born abroad."
The new rules would not confer a Canadian citizenship on children born outside of Canada to one or both parents who are themselves Canadian citizens by birth outside of Canada. Thus the new rule makes a distinction between Canadian citizens born in Canada and those born outside of Canada, a stance that the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
has ruled against. In a scenario the new rules would apply like this: A child is born abroad in 2005 ("before" the new rules came in effect) to a naturalized Canadian citizen father, and a foreign mother who is "only" a Permanent Resident of Canada. Child automatically becomes a Canadian citizen through a simple registration process. Another child born ´´on vacation´´ abroad after April 17, 2009 in the same scenario would not be considered a Canadian citizen. The child is considered born past "first generation limitation" and the parents (the father) would have to sponsor the child to Canada through an onerous process to become a Permanent Resident, even though the child may have other siblings who are Canadian citizens by the same parents. Once the Permanent Residency is granted, a Canadian parent can apply for Canadian citizenship on behalf of the child, without the required three-year-residency rule, however.
The above scenario is untrue. The first generation limit only applies to children born abroad to Canadian parents whose only claim to Canadian citizenship is based on the fact that they were born abroad to a Canadian parent. (See: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/faq/citizenship/index.asp#rules)
However, prior to the introduction of the first generation limit to citizenship by descent, there already existed a distinction between children born in Canada and children born abroad in Section 8 of the Citizenship Act 1977 in the sense that children born abroad had to apply to retain their Canadian citizenship before their 28th birthday. However, there is debate whether this distinction is merely a procedural one rather than in law.
Criticism of new citizenship rules
New rules have had the consequence of denying citizenship to children of Canadian expatsCanadian Expat Association
Canadian Expat Association is a registered Canadian lobby that focuses on creating awareness amongst Canadians and legislators of the value of the Canadian expat community and issues faced by Canadians living abroad...
, if the parents were also born outside Canada. New Canadian exclusionary citizenship rules limit the scope of those eligible for citizenship. In contrast, some other countries have citizenship laws that favour ancestry as well as birth. Israel's Law of Return
Law of Return
The Law of Return is Israeli legislation, passed on 5 July 1950, that gives Jews the right of return and settlement in Israel and gain citizenship...
confers Israeli citizenship to all those with Jewish ancestry wishing to reside in Israel, for example, in the case of Persian Jews
Persian Jews
Persian Jews , are Jews historically associated with Iran, traditionally known as Persia in Western sources.Judaism is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran. The Book of Esther contains some references to the experiences of Jews in Persia...
, some of whom have not lived within the bounds of the modern State of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
for 2,700 years. German Right of return
Right of return
The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin...
allows persons of German descent living in Eastern Europe from as early as 18th century such as Volga Germans to return to Germany and claim German citizenship. Russia offers citizenship to individuals descended from Russian ancestors
Russian diaspora
The term Russian diaspora refers to the global community of ethnic Russians, usually more specifically those who maintain some kind of connection, even if ephemeral, to the land of their ancestors and maintain their feeling of Russian national identity within a local community.The term "Russian...
who can demonstrate an affinity for Russian culture and, preferably, speak Russian. Concern about Russia's shrinking population
Russian Cross
Russian Cross ENG.jpgRussian Cross refers to a demographic trend in Russia. Since 1988 birth rates among native Russians have been declining, while since 1991 the death rates have been climbing...
prompted the program. (See main article Right of return
Right of return
The term right of return refers to a principle of international law, codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, giving any person the right to return to, and re-enter, his or her country of origin...
). A non-exhaustive list of at least 27 countries and a Palestinian National Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
have favourable citizenship rules based on ancestry as well as birth .
However, these types of ethnicity/ancestry-based citizenship policies are not without shortcomings. In a case of Turkish guest workers
Gastarbeiter
Gastarbeiter is German for "guest worker." It refers to migrant workers who had moved to West Germany mainly in the 1960s and 70s, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker programme...
and Koreans in Japan it was generally not possible for them to become a citizen of a country of their birth.
New restricted citizenship rules may also exacerbate population ageing
Population ageing
Population ageing or population aging occurs when the median age of a country or region rises. This happens because of rising life expectancy or declining birth rates. Excepting 18 countries termed 'demographic outliers' by the UN) this process is taking place in every country and region across...
in Canada. Canadian parents of children born abroad (and unable to come to Canada) may choose not to return to Canada themselves rather than go through the hassle of obtaining a visitor visa
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
or Permanent Residency for their child. Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada is the Canadian federal government agency commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. Its headquarters is in Ottawa....
own population projection study published in December 2005 states that: Canada's population is ageing fast and senior citizens would outnumber children in about a decade, according to new population projections. In all growth scenarios considered for this study, seniors aged 65 and over would become more numerous than children aged less than 15 around the year 2015. This would be an unprecedented situation in Canada.
Another criticism the bill has attracted arises because of the proposed ´´first generation limit´´ cut-off described above. Under the bill, a person who is the second or subsequent generation born abroad to a Canadian parent may be stateless if he or she does not acquire citizenship of the state of birth, or through his or her other parent. Canada is a contracting state to the United Nations’ Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
Statelessness
Statelessness is a legal concept describing the lack of any nationality. It is the absence of a recognized link between an individual and any state....
.(34) Under article 4 of that Convention, a contracting state is required to grant its nationality to a person not born in the territory of the contracting state, who would otherwise be stateless, if the nationality of one or both of the person’s parents at the time of the person’s birth was that of the contracting state. Such a grant of nationality may be subject to certain stipulated conditions, however. The provision included in Bill C-37 to deal with statelessness is compliant with the Convention, but only minimally so.
2011 Revocation of Canadian Citizenship
On July 19, 2011 Canadian Government announced through Immigration Minister Jason KenneyJason Kenney
Jason T. Kenney, PC, MP is Canada's current Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism. He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997....
its intention to revoke the citizenship of 1,800 people it believes obtained their status through "fraudulent" means, and residing abroad.
The decision to revoke citizenship is rare, and a large-scale crackdown such as this one is unprecedented. Fewer than 70 citizenships have ever been revoked since the Citizenship Act was passed in 1947.
The move will most likely affect individuals from the Middle East and Persian Gulf countries, as well as China.
See also
- Immigration to CanadaImmigration to CanadaImmigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada to reside permanently in the country. The majority of these individuals become Canadian citizens. After 1947, domestic immigration law and policy went through major changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the...
- Free rider problemFree rider problemIn economics, collective bargaining, psychology, and political science, a free rider is someone who consumes a resource without paying for it, or pays less than the full cost. The free rider problem is the question of how to limit free riding...
- Multiple citizenshipMultiple citizenshipMultiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenships exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements...
- Economic impact of immigration to CanadaEconomic impact of immigration to CanadaThe economic impact of immigration is an important topic in Canada. While the immigration rate has declined sharply from its peak early in the 20th century, Canada still holds the title of accepting more immigrants per capita than any other country....
- ExpatriateExpatriateAn expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
- Oath of Citizenship (Canada)Oath of citizenship (Canada)The Oath of Citizenship, or Citizenship Oath , is a statement recited and signed by candidates who wish to become citizens of Canada...