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Oath of citizenship (Canada)
Encyclopedia
The Oath of Citizenship, or Citizenship Oath (in French
: serment de citoyenneté), is a statement recited and signed by candidates who wish to become citizens of Canada
. Administered at a ceremony presided over by assigned officers, the oath is a promise or declaration of fealty
to the Canadian monarch and a promise to abide by Canada's laws
and customs; upon signing the oath, citizenship
is granted to the signer.
The vow's roots lie in the oath of allegiance taken in the United Kingdom, the modern form of which was implemented in 1689 by King William II and III
and Queen Mary II
and was inherited by and used in Canada prior to 1947. With the enactment of the Citizenship Act
that year, the Canadian Oath of Citizenship was established. Proposals for modification of the oath have surfaced from time to time, including removing references to the sovereign, adding loyalty to societal principles, and/or adding specific mention to Canada. It has, however, only been modified once, in 1977.
s of the king in the same manner as any other inhabitant of a country under the same king's sovereignty
, and anyone immigrating to Canada from a non-Commonwealth
country would take only the Oath of Allegiance
. When India became a republic in 1950, however, the Commonwealth thereafter contained countries that did not recognize as their own that monarch shared amongst the Commonwealth realm
s, though still regarding that individual as Head of the Commonwealth
. With potential new Commonwealth immigrants who did not already owe allegiance to Canada's shared sovereign, the Parliament of Canada
thus enacted the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946
, which came into effect on 1 January of the following year. New immigrants were then required to recite the Oath of Allegiance for Purposes of Citizenship, which was an adaptation of the original Oath of Allegiance: "I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King George the Sixth, His Heirs and Successors, according to law, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen"; Prime Minister
William Lyon Mackenzie King
was the first person to take this oath. Though new citizens were thereafter required by law to recite the Oath of Citizenship, on 1 April 1949, 359,000 Newfoundlanders became Canadian citizens without taking the oath, when the British crown colony
joined Canadian Confederation
.
By the mid-1970s, it was thought that because Canada had a shared monarch the Oath of Citizenship should clarify for new citizens that the fealty they were offering was specifically to the monarch in her capacity as the Canadian head of state, rather than, for example, the head of state of Jamaica or of the United Kingdom. Thus, as part of an amendment to the Citizenship Act in 1977, the words Queen of Canada were inserted after the Queen's name and the oath was officially named the Canadian Citizenship Oath. This new format maintained the traditional assertion of allegiance to the monarch, but also inserted the name of the country three times in a way consistent with Canada's status as a constitutional monarchy
i.e., in a monarchy the state is personified, not treated as an abstraction or a corporation.
The Oath of Citizenship is today a legally binding oral and written contract intended to ensure that new Canadian citizens
promise to obey the laws and customs of their new country, fulfill their duties as citizens, and recognize the authority of the monarch as the personification of various entities and concepts. Its current form is as follows:
The equally valid French language version of the oath of citizenship is as follows:
Or, the French affirmation:
The Oath of Citizenship must be recited by all citizenship candidates in Canada in order to obtain citizenship, save for those with disabilities
of speech and minors
. However, all must sign the oath, with parents signing on behalf of any of their children under the age of 14. These actions are typically carried out in the context of a citizenship ceremony, approximately 2,500 of which take place each year, and are functions normally presided over by a citizenship judge
, though members of the Order of Canada
,members of the Order of Military Merit
Colonels and above, members of the Victorian Order as well the governor general
, or a lieutenant governor
may also preside at a ceremony. These events also include the participation of a clerk of the court and, when available, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) officer. The Canadian flag
must be displayed, along with other national symbols, including a portrait of the reigning monarch.
The RCMP officer opens the ceremony, followed by the clerk introducing the candidates for citizenship, stating: "Your Honour, these people assembled here have qualified for Canadian citizenship and appear before you to take the Oath of Citizenship." The judge addresses the crowd with a short speech outlining the duties and responsibilities of being a Canadian citizen, after which the clerk instructs the participants to stand, raise their right hand, and recite the Oath of Citizenship as read by the judge. The judge then presents each new citizen their Certificate of Citizenship. The ceremony is concluded with the singing of the national anthem
in English and French.
It has been stated by Sheikh Ahmad Kutty
, of the Islamic Institute of Toronto, that Muslims
may take the Oath of Citizenship "as long as you are clear in your mind that you are doing so without contravening the sovereignty of Allah
" and that reciting it should not be viewed as a form of shirk
.
In 1994, the subject was addressed again when the House of Commons
Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration examined changes to the Citizenship Act. Several witnesses presented divergent views on the oath: some argued that the present form should be retained, while others expressed a desire to see the name of the country given prominence, though not necessarily with the absence of mention of the sovereign. The committee recommended a new citizenship oath: I pledge full allegiance to Canada and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, and swear to faithfully obey the laws and fulfill my duties as a citizen. Sergio Marchi
, then minister of Citizenship and Immigration
, proposed a further step of creating a new "declaration" of citizenship, and commissioned ten Canadian writers to compose a pledge, with the explicit instruction to not refer to the monarch of Canada; the suggested declaration decided on was: I am a citizen of Canada, and I make this commitment: to uphold our laws and freedoms; to respect our people in their diversity; to work for our common well-being; and to safeguard and honour this ancient northern land.
By 1996, the minister of citizenship and immigration, then Lucienne Robillard
, stated on the suggested alterations to the oath: "This is a difficult decision to make, because I realise that when you speak about changing the oath, people think you want to change all the monarchy system. We don't want a discussion like that in Canada right now." According to an Angus Reid Strategies
survey for Citizenship and Immigration Canada
, conducted in January 1996, 51% of respondents felt that a new oath of allegiance should remove any reference to the Queen, and 38% felt that allegiance should be pledged to both Canada and its sovereign. Only 5% favoured swearing allegiance only to the monarch; though, at the same time, only 5% of Canadians were aware the Queen was their head of state
. Meanwhile, press reaction to the continued proposals for alternate oaths was muted. The Globe and Mail editorial of 12 December 1998 stated: "The language is being drained dry, killed by a thousand smiley-faced cuts," while the Ottawa Citizen
was more critical on 11 December: "The new citizenship oath... leaves us cold... It would strengthen the political argument for abolishing the monarchy on the death of Queen Elizabeth; and it would test monarchist support by seeing how many Canadians even notice or holler. We noticed. Consider this a holler."
Bill C-63, the proposed Citizenship of Canada Act, was put before parliament in 1999; in it was a variant on the present Oath of Citizenship:
In French, this would be:
Member of Parliament John H. Bryden
put forward an amendment that would remove the sovereign from the oath altogether: In pledging allegiance to Canada, I take my place among Canadians, a people united by God whose sacred trust is to uphold these five principles: equality of opportunity, freedom of speech, democracy, basic human rights, and the rule of law. Bryden's proposal was defeated in a vote of 189 to 31, and Bill C-63 itself never received Royal Assent
; after approval by the House of Commons
and a second reading in the Senate
, the bill was under consideration by the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs when a federal election was called, resulting in the bill's demise on the Order Paper
. Subsequent Bills C-16 (2000) and C-18 (2002) also proposed the same changes to the Oath of Citizenship; the former also died on the Order Paper due to the prorogation of parliament, while the latter never made it past second reading in the House of Commons.
Throughout the process, the Monarchist League of Canada
, while not against amendment in general, voiced its strongest opposition to the proposals to remove the sovereign. From the group there was also commentary against what they saw as being Americanized
and vague terminology, as well as what could be construed as the separation of the monarch from the state (contradicting the inherent notion that the monarch personifies the state) and placed second to it. Like the Ottawa Citizen, the league also questioned the legality of the elimination of the words Her Heirs and Successors according to law the commitment new citizens make to the succession to the Canadian Crown. Addressing this, both Bills C-16 and C-18 contained a clause stating: "It should be noted that removing the words 'Her Heirs and Successors' does not imply that pledging allegiance to the... Crown ends with the death of the current Queen. Section 35 of the Interpretation Act states that, in every enactment, the phrases 'Her Majesty', 'the Queen', 'the King', or 'the Crown' mean the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, and Head of the Commonwealth. Thus, upon her death, the reference to Queen Elizabeth will automatically be read as a reference to the succeeding monarch."
In 2006, the Fraser Institute
issued a report, Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform, suggesting that the Citizenship Act be amended so that the Oath of Citizenship included a provision wherein the new citizen offered loyalty to Canadian values, with violation of this oath punishable by deportation
. The intention of the report's recommendations, penned by David Collacott, was to counter the support immigrants received from official multiculturalism
to place the devotions and hostilities of their homeland before their duty to Canada. A University of Toronto
law professor, however, opined that the rule of law itself was Canadian value, thus rendering the report as moot.
, a permanent resident of Canada
and executive board
member of Citizens for a Canadian Republic
(CCR) who has refused to swear the Oath of Citizenship, attempted through the courts to strike down the requirement to pledge allegiance to the monarch to obtain citizenship. With the support of his own law firm and CCR, Roach launched a number of suits against the Crown, beginning in 1994, when he argued to the federal court
that being forced to take the oath was a violation of clauses 2(b), 2(d), and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
. This attempt was unsuccessful, with the majority of the court ruling that "[t]he fact that the oath 'personalizes' one particular constitutional provision has no constitutional relevance, since that personalization is derived from the Constitution itself... Even thus personalized, that part of the Constitution relating to the Queen is amendable, and so its amendment may be freely advocated, consistently with the oath of allegiance, either by expression, by peaceful assembly or by association." Further appeal of this decision to the Supreme Court was denied.
In 2007, Roach, along with three others, filed a class action
lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
, claiming that the requirement to take the Oath of Citizenship not only violated the aforementioned sections of the charter, but also clause 2(a), that relating to freedom of conscience
. He stated in the media that requiring black people
to swear allegiance to the Canadian sovereign to receive citizenship was akin to forcing Jews to swear an oath to a descendant of Adolf Hitler
, and said in a letter to his fellow litigants: "If we win this class action, a centuries-old tradition would begin to unravel." Though the federal Crown made two attempts to have the case dismissed as frivolous and vexatious, on 20 February 2008, the Ontario Court of Appeal approved the proceeding of the case to the Ontario Superior Court. During the proceedings, the Monarchist League of Canada publicly supported the present oath and opposed Roach's actions, and media reaction was also negative, with a number of op-ed pieces denouncing Roach's challenges. Roach's case was dismissed by the Ontario Superior Court in January 2009.
At CCR protest rallies at Ontario
's Queen's Park, on Victoria Day
of 2004 and 2005, CCR executive board member Ashok Charles, who had taken the Oath of Citizenship in 1977, publicly recanted the portion of the oath that makes reference to the monarch and her heirs and successors. He also submitted the recantation in a notarized document to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which acknowledged receipt. In a letter published in the National Post, Charles claimed that Citizenship and Immigration had informed him in writing that his citizenship had not been affected.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: serment de citoyenneté), is a statement recited and signed by candidates who wish to become citizens of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Administered at a ceremony presided over by assigned officers, the oath is a promise or declaration of fealty
Fealty
An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas , is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic, often contained within an altar, thus binding the oath-taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between...
to the Canadian monarch and a promise to abide by Canada's laws
Law of Canada
The Canadian legal system has its foundation in the British common law system, inherited from being a former colony of the United Kingdom and later a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Quebec, however, still retains a civil system for issues of private law...
and customs; upon signing the oath, citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
is granted to the signer.
The vow's roots lie in the oath of allegiance taken in the United Kingdom, the modern form of which was implemented in 1689 by King William II and III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
and Queen Mary II
Mary II of England
Mary II was joint Sovereign of England, Scotland, and Ireland with her husband and first cousin, William III and II, from 1689 until her death. William and Mary, both Protestants, became king and queen regnant, respectively, following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of...
and was inherited by and used in Canada prior to 1947. With the enactment of the Citizenship Act
Canadian nationality law
Canadian citizenship is typically obtained by birth in Canada, birth abroad when at least one parent is a Canadian citizen and was born or naturalized in Canada, or by adoption abroad by at least one Canadian citizen. It can also be granted to a permanent resident who lives in Canada for three out...
that year, the Canadian Oath of Citizenship was established. Proposals for modification of the oath have surfaced from time to time, including removing references to the sovereign, adding loyalty to societal principles, and/or adding specific mention to Canada. It has, however, only been modified once, in 1977.
Composition
Prior to 1947, Canadians were considered British subjectBritish subject
In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
s of the king in the same manner as any other inhabitant of a country under the same king's sovereignty
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
, and anyone immigrating to Canada from a non-Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
country would take only the Oath of Allegiance
Oath of Allegiance (Canada)
The Canadian Oath of Allegiance is a promise or declaration of fealty to the Canadian monarch, taken, along with other specific oaths of office, by new occupants of various government positions, including federal and provincial viceroys, appointees to the Queen's Privy Council, Supreme Court...
. When India became a republic in 1950, however, the Commonwealth thereafter contained countries that did not recognize as their own that monarch shared amongst the Commonwealth realm
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
s, though still regarding that individual as Head of the Commonwealth
Head of the Commonwealth
The Head of the Commonwealth heads the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation which currently comprises 54 sovereign states. The position is currently occupied by the individual who serves as monarch of each of the Commonwealth realms, but has no day-to-day involvement in the...
. With potential new Commonwealth immigrants who did not already owe allegiance to Canada's shared sovereign, the Parliament of Canada
Parliament of Canada
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa. Formally, the body consists of the Canadian monarch—represented by her governor general—the Senate, and the House of Commons, each element having its own officers and...
thus enacted the Canadian Citizenship Act 1946
Canadian Citizenship Act 1946
The Canadian Citizenship Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, which was enacted June 27, 1946, and came into effect on January 1, 1947, recognizing the definition of a Canadian, including reference to them being British subjects....
, which came into effect on 1 January of the following year. New immigrants were then required to recite the Oath of Allegiance for Purposes of Citizenship, which was an adaptation of the original Oath of Allegiance: "I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King George the Sixth, His Heirs and Successors, according to law, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen"; Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
was the first person to take this oath. Though new citizens were thereafter required by law to recite the Oath of Citizenship, on 1 April 1949, 359,000 Newfoundlanders became Canadian citizens without taking the oath, when the British crown colony
British overseas territories
The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories of the United Kingdom which, although they do not form part of the United Kingdom itself, fall under its jurisdiction. They are remnants of the British Empire that have not acquired independence or have voted to remain British territories...
joined Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
.
By the mid-1970s, it was thought that because Canada had a shared monarch the Oath of Citizenship should clarify for new citizens that the fealty they were offering was specifically to the monarch in her capacity as the Canadian head of state, rather than, for example, the head of state of Jamaica or of the United Kingdom. Thus, as part of an amendment to the Citizenship Act in 1977, the words Queen of Canada were inserted after the Queen's name and the oath was officially named the Canadian Citizenship Oath. This new format maintained the traditional assertion of allegiance to the monarch, but also inserted the name of the country three times in a way consistent with Canada's status as a constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
i.e., in a monarchy the state is personified, not treated as an abstraction or a corporation.
The Oath of Citizenship is today a legally binding oral and written contract intended to ensure that new Canadian citizens
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
promise to obey the laws and customs of their new country, fulfill their duties as citizens, and recognize the authority of the monarch as the personification of various entities and concepts. Its current form is as follows:
The equally valid French language version of the oath of citizenship is as follows:
Or, the French affirmation:
Administration of the oath
Disability
A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...
of speech and minors
Minor (law)
In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...
. However, all must sign the oath, with parents signing on behalf of any of their children under the age of 14. These actions are typically carried out in the context of a citizenship ceremony, approximately 2,500 of which take place each year, and are functions normally presided over by a citizenship judge
Citizenship judge
A citizenship judge is an official or judge of the Canadian government who reviews applications for Canadian citizenship.Citizenship judges are appointed by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration....
, though members of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
,members of the Order of Military Merit
Order of Military Merit
Order of Military Merit may refer to:* Order of Military Merit , National Order "For Military Merit"* Order of Military Merit * German States:** Military Merit Order ** Military Merit Order...
Colonels and above, members of the Victorian Order as well the governor general
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
, or a lieutenant governor
Lieutenant Governor (Canada)
In Canada, a lieutenant governor is the viceregal representative in a provincial jurisdiction of the Canadian monarch and head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, who resides predominantly in her oldest realm, the United Kingdom...
may also preside at a ceremony. These events also include the participation of a clerk of the court and, when available, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) officer. The Canadian flag
Flag of Canada
The national flag of Canada, also known as the Maple Leaf, and , is a red flag with a white square in its centre, featuring a stylized 11-pointed red maple leaf. Its adoption in 1965 marked the first time a national flag had been officially adopted in Canada to replace the Union Flag...
must be displayed, along with other national symbols, including a portrait of the reigning monarch.
The RCMP officer opens the ceremony, followed by the clerk introducing the candidates for citizenship, stating: "Your Honour, these people assembled here have qualified for Canadian citizenship and appear before you to take the Oath of Citizenship." The judge addresses the crowd with a short speech outlining the duties and responsibilities of being a Canadian citizen, after which the clerk instructs the participants to stand, raise their right hand, and recite the Oath of Citizenship as read by the judge. The judge then presents each new citizen their Certificate of Citizenship. The ceremony is concluded with the singing of the national anthem
O Canada
It has been noted that the opening theme of "O Canada" bears a strong resemblance to the "Marsch der Priester" , from the opera Die Zauberflöte , composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and that Lavallée's melody was inspired by Mozart's tune...
in English and French.
It has been stated by Sheikh Ahmad Kutty
Ahmad Kutty
-Biography:Kutty was born in the Indian state of Kerala in 1946. He arrived in Canada in the 1970s as a student and has since obtained Canadian citizenship....
, of the Islamic Institute of Toronto, that Muslims
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
may take the Oath of Citizenship "as long as you are clear in your mind that you are doing so without contravening the sovereignty of Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
" and that reciting it should not be viewed as a form of shirk
Shirk (polytheism)
In Islam, shirk is the sin of idolatry or polytheism. i.e. the deification or worship of anyone or anything other than the singular God, or more literally the establishment of "partners" placed beside God...
.
Proposed changes
Since the last amendment to the vow in 1977, the idea of modifying it yet again has come up periodically. In 1987, the government proposed alterations to the Citizenship Act that included studying to what or whom allegiance should be given in the Oath of Citizenship: to the Crown, the country, or both, and in what order? No changes were made.In 1994, the subject was addressed again when the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration examined changes to the Citizenship Act. Several witnesses presented divergent views on the oath: some argued that the present form should be retained, while others expressed a desire to see the name of the country given prominence, though not necessarily with the absence of mention of the sovereign. The committee recommended a new citizenship oath: I pledge full allegiance to Canada and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, and swear to faithfully obey the laws and fulfill my duties as a citizen. Sergio Marchi
Sergio Marchi
Sergio Marchi, PC is a Canadian diplomat and former politician.Marchi was born in Argentina to an Italian family who subsequently emigrated to Canada...
, then minister of Citizenship and Immigration
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (Canada)
The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the federal government department responsible for immigration, refugee and citizenship issues, Citizenship and Immigration Canada...
, proposed a further step of creating a new "declaration" of citizenship, and commissioned ten Canadian writers to compose a pledge, with the explicit instruction to not refer to the monarch of Canada; the suggested declaration decided on was: I am a citizen of Canada, and I make this commitment: to uphold our laws and freedoms; to respect our people in their diversity; to work for our common well-being; and to safeguard and honour this ancient northern land.
By 1996, the minister of citizenship and immigration, then Lucienne Robillard
Lucienne Robillard
Lucienne Robillard, PC is a Canadian politician and a member of the Liberal Party of Canada. She sat in the Canadian House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie in Montreal....
, stated on the suggested alterations to the oath: "This is a difficult decision to make, because I realise that when you speak about changing the oath, people think you want to change all the monarchy system. We don't want a discussion like that in Canada right now." According to an Angus Reid Strategies
Angus Reid Strategies
Angus Reid Public Opinion is an international public affairs practice. It was established in 2006 under the name Angus Reid Strategies by Dr Angus Reid, a Canadian sociologist who founded his first research company in 1979. Reid sold the Angus Reid Group to Paris-based Ipsos SA in 2000...
survey for Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Citizenship and Immigration Canada is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for issues dealing with immigration and citizenship...
, conducted in January 1996, 51% of respondents felt that a new oath of allegiance should remove any reference to the Queen, and 38% felt that allegiance should be pledged to both Canada and its sovereign. Only 5% favoured swearing allegiance only to the monarch; though, at the same time, only 5% of Canadians were aware the Queen was their head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
. Meanwhile, press reaction to the continued proposals for alternate oaths was muted. The Globe and Mail editorial of 12 December 1998 stated: "The language is being drained dry, killed by a thousand smiley-faced cuts," while the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
was more critical on 11 December: "The new citizenship oath... leaves us cold... It would strengthen the political argument for abolishing the monarchy on the death of Queen Elizabeth; and it would test monarchist support by seeing how many Canadians even notice or holler. We noticed. Consider this a holler."
Bill C-63, the proposed Citizenship of Canada Act, was put before parliament in 1999; in it was a variant on the present Oath of Citizenship:
- From this day forward, I pledge my loyalty and allegiance to Canada and Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada. I promise to respect our country's rights and freedoms, to defend our democratic values, to faithfully observe our laws and fulfill my duties and obligations as a Canadian citizen.
In French, this would be:
- Dorénavant, je promets fidélité et allégeance au Canada et à Sa Majesté Elizabeth Deux, Reine du Canada. Je m'engage à respecter les droits et libertés de notre pays, à défendre nos valeurs démocratiques, à observer fidèlement nos lois et à remplir mes devoirs et obligations de citoyen(ne) canadien(ne).
Member of Parliament John H. Bryden
John H. Bryden
John H. Bryden is a Canadian politician, journalist, historian.-Education:He received an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History from McMaster University in 1966, and a Masters of Philosophy in English from the University of Leeds in 1968.-Early career:From 1969 to 1989, Bryden held...
put forward an amendment that would remove the sovereign from the oath altogether: In pledging allegiance to Canada, I take my place among Canadians, a people united by God whose sacred trust is to uphold these five principles: equality of opportunity, freedom of speech, democracy, basic human rights, and the rule of law. Bryden's proposal was defeated in a vote of 189 to 31, and Bill C-63 itself never received Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
; after approval by the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
and a second reading in the Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
, the bill was under consideration by the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs when a federal election was called, resulting in the bill's demise on the Order Paper
Order Paper
The Order Paper is a daily publication in the Westminster system of government which lists the business of parliament for that day's sitting. A separate paper is issued daily for each house of the legislature....
. Subsequent Bills C-16 (2000) and C-18 (2002) also proposed the same changes to the Oath of Citizenship; the former also died on the Order Paper due to the prorogation of parliament, while the latter never made it past second reading in the House of Commons.
Throughout the process, the Monarchist League of Canada
Monarchist League of Canada
The Monarchist League of Canada is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization whose mission is "to promote the full expression and a better understanding of the history and real benefits of a uniquely Canadian constitutional monarchy"....
, while not against amendment in general, voiced its strongest opposition to the proposals to remove the sovereign. From the group there was also commentary against what they saw as being Americanized
Americanization
Americanization is the influence of the United States on the popular culture, technology, business practices, or political techniques of other countries. The term has been used since at least 1907. Inside the U.S...
and vague terminology, as well as what could be construed as the separation of the monarch from the state (contradicting the inherent notion that the monarch personifies the state) and placed second to it. Like the Ottawa Citizen, the league also questioned the legality of the elimination of the words Her Heirs and Successors according to law the commitment new citizens make to the succession to the Canadian Crown. Addressing this, both Bills C-16 and C-18 contained a clause stating: "It should be noted that removing the words 'Her Heirs and Successors' does not imply that pledging allegiance to the... Crown ends with the death of the current Queen. Section 35 of the Interpretation Act states that, in every enactment, the phrases 'Her Majesty', 'the Queen', 'the King', or 'the Crown' mean the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, and Head of the Commonwealth. Thus, upon her death, the reference to Queen Elizabeth will automatically be read as a reference to the succeeding monarch."
In 2006, the Fraser Institute
Fraser Institute
The Fraser Institute is a Canadian think tank. It has been described as politically conservative and right-wing libertarian and espouses free market principles...
issued a report, Canada's Inadequate Response to Terrorism: The Need for Policy Reform, suggesting that the Citizenship Act be amended so that the Oath of Citizenship included a provision wherein the new citizen offered loyalty to Canadian values, with violation of this oath punishable by deportation
Deportation
Deportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. Today it often refers to the expulsion of foreign nationals whereas the expulsion of nationals is called banishment, exile, or penal transportation...
. The intention of the report's recommendations, penned by David Collacott, was to counter the support immigrants received from official multiculturalism
Official Multiculturalism Act
The Canadian Multiculturalism Act is a law, which was passed in 1988, aims to preserve and enhance multiculturalism in Canada.-Background:The federal government, under Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, declared in 1971 that Canada would adopt multicultural policy. Canada would recognize and...
to place the devotions and hostilities of their homeland before their duty to Canada. A University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
law professor, however, opined that the rule of law itself was Canadian value, thus rendering the report as moot.
Public action
Lawyer Charles RoachCharles Roach
Charles Roach is a Canada-based civil rights lawyer and an activist in the Black community.-Early life:Born in Trinidad and Tobago, the son of a trade union organizer, Roach arrived in Canada in 1955 as an aspiring priest to study at the University of Saskatchewan...
, a permanent resident of Canada
Permanent resident (Canada)
A Permanent Resident in Canada is someone who is not a Canadian citizen but who has been granted permission to live and work in Canada without any time limit on his or her stay...
and executive board
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
member of Citizens for a Canadian Republic
Citizens for a Canadian Republic
Citizens for a Canadian Republic is a not-for-profit Canadian organization founded in 2002 that advocates the replacement of the Canadian monarchy with a head of state who would either be chosen through a general election or elected by parliament...
(CCR) who has refused to swear the Oath of Citizenship, attempted through the courts to strike down the requirement to pledge allegiance to the monarch to obtain citizenship. With the support of his own law firm and CCR, Roach launched a number of suits against the Crown, beginning in 1994, when he argued to the federal court
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada was a national court of Canada that heard some types of disputes arising under the central government's legislative jurisdiction...
that being forced to take the oath was a violation of clauses 2(b), 2(d), and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
. This attempt was unsuccessful, with the majority of the court ruling that "[t]he fact that the oath 'personalizes' one particular constitutional provision has no constitutional relevance, since that personalization is derived from the Constitution itself... Even thus personalized, that part of the Constitution relating to the Queen is amendable, and so its amendment may be freely advocated, consistently with the oath of allegiance, either by expression, by peaceful assembly or by association." Further appeal of this decision to the Supreme Court was denied.
In 2007, Roach, along with three others, filed a class action
Class action
In law, a class action, a class suit, or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued...
lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
The Superior Court of Justice is the superior court of general jurisdiction for the Province of Ontario, Canada. It is the successor to the former Ontario Court of Justice , and was created on April 19, 1999...
, claiming that the requirement to take the Oath of Citizenship not only violated the aforementioned sections of the charter, but also clause 2(a), that relating to freedom of conscience
Freedom of thought
Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....
. He stated in the media that requiring black people
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
to swear allegiance to the Canadian sovereign to receive citizenship was akin to forcing Jews to swear an oath to a descendant of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and said in a letter to his fellow litigants: "If we win this class action, a centuries-old tradition would begin to unravel." Though the federal Crown made two attempts to have the case dismissed as frivolous and vexatious, on 20 February 2008, the Ontario Court of Appeal approved the proceeding of the case to the Ontario Superior Court. During the proceedings, the Monarchist League of Canada publicly supported the present oath and opposed Roach's actions, and media reaction was also negative, with a number of op-ed pieces denouncing Roach's challenges. Roach's case was dismissed by the Ontario Superior Court in January 2009.
At CCR protest rallies at Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
's Queen's Park, on Victoria Day
Victoria Day
Victoria Day is a federal Canadian public holiday celebrated on the last Monday before May 25, in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday. The date is also, simultaneously, that on which the current reigning Canadian sovereign's official birthday is recognized...
of 2004 and 2005, CCR executive board member Ashok Charles, who had taken the Oath of Citizenship in 1977, publicly recanted the portion of the oath that makes reference to the monarch and her heirs and successors. He also submitted the recantation in a notarized document to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which acknowledged receipt. In a letter published in the National Post, Charles claimed that Citizenship and Immigration had informed him in writing that his citizenship had not been affected.
See also
- Canadian nationality lawCanadian nationality lawCanadian citizenship is typically obtained by birth in Canada, birth abroad when at least one parent is a Canadian citizen and was born or naturalized in Canada, or by adoption abroad by at least one Canadian citizen. It can also be granted to a permanent resident who lives in Canada for three out...
- 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...
- History of immigration to CanadaHistory of immigration to CanadaThe history of immigration to Canada extends back thousands of years. Anthropologists continue to argue over various possible models of migration to modern day Canada, as well as their pre-contact populations. The Inuit are believed to have arrived entirely separately from other indigenous peoples...