[Note: This article first appeared at The Mark, Canada's daily online forum for news and opinion.]
The big news in the expatriate community is a recent change to the Citizenship Act under which children born to Canadians abroad are only entitled to citizenship if at least one of the parents was born inside Canada. In other words, Canadian citizenship now only passes for one generation outside the country.
The change has its merits and demerits; I’ve explored some of them on my blog. But whatever the merits of the amendment, you can’t change the definition of Canadian citizenship without changing what it means to be Canadian. Or can you?
I’m a Canadian citizen, though I currently live in the United States. But because I was born overseas, any kids I have during my stay in the States won’t be Canadian citizens. Having kids right now is a purely speculative notion (to my mother’s chagrin), but the idea that my hypothetical kids wouldn’t be Canadian has got me thinking about what being Canadian means.
Living in the United States, I think about being Canadian a lot. Maybe it’s just me; maybe it’s an expatriate thing. Either way, living here has undoubtedly increased my sense of Canadian identity. Part of it is linguistic. (I once had to spell out the word “produce” before a midwestern friend could understand what I wanted at the grocery store.) Part is cultural: for all our self-congratulation, Canada is remarkably racially homogenous (at 86% white) compared to the United States (75%). Part is geographic: we complain about the frost in October, but I tell you in all honesty that I miss it. (Not too much.)
Most of all, Canada is where I come from. It’s part of me in a thousand different ways, some obvious, some not, but all contributing to who I am. I want to pass that on. I want to say to my children: your ancestors lived on the land from time immemorial; your ancestors crossed the seas; your ancestors fought one another, and then made their peace; your ancestors confronted a land that cannot be tamed, and learned to live with it (and off it); your ancestors went to war, time and again, to fight for freedom and justice, not always without honest reservation; your ancestors persecuted one another, felt shame, begged forgiveness, and forgave; your ancestors stood tall, lived honest lives, held out a helping hand, said please and thank you. I want to say to my children: you have the spirit of the north inside of you. I want to say to them: you are Canadian.
Can I say that, if my children aren’t citizens? If they never vote, or expect to vote, or pay tax? If they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America? Can my kids be Canadian, even if they aren’t Canadian citizens?
Why not? Tying Canadian identity to Canadian citizenship reduces Canada to a mere political entity, to a government. But it’s more than that; it’s a nation, with a national history, a national culture, national past-times, national quirks, national shames and national triumphs. Surely there’s more to being Canadian than having a passport. Surely being Canadian is being a product of all of the experiences of all of the Canadians who have come before.
The recent change to the Citizenship Act seems to have been drafted on the assumption that, for many Canadians living abroad, identity and citizenship are the same. That’s probably true: those who don’t identify as Canadian won’t bemoan the loss of citizenship; those who do will take the steps necessary to pass citizenship along. But I suspect there’s a third group: those who want to pass along Canadian identity without passing along citizenship. If I’m right, tightening the citizenship rules might result, somewhat paradoxically, in the growth of a new sort of Canadian diaspora, connected culturally and emotionally to the motherland even while connected politically and socially to countries around the world.
That’s what I’ve been telling myself, anyway: I’m not Canadian because I’m a citizen, I’m just Canadian, and it follows that my kids don’t have to be citizens to be Canadian as well.
But, for all that, I’d still rather they were.
Comments 6
I want to say to them: you are Canadian.
Can I say that, if my children aren’t citizens? If they never vote, or expect to vote, or pay tax? If they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America? Can my kids be Canadian, even if they aren’t Canadian citizens?
To be blunt, no you can’t. However, you can make them aware of their heritage. If they wish to become Canadian, they (or you) can move here and make it reality.
As I commented last time, my Dad was born in the Netherlands, and his parents immigrated when he was quite young. My Dad has very much adopted this country and considers himself Canadian. His (and my) heritage obviously have Dutch influences. Its something I wouldn’t mind investigating sometime. But I am not Dutch.
On my mothers side, her mother was Newfie (from before it joined Canada) and her father was partly Native American.
So am I a Dutch-Native American-Newfie? Not at all. they are all part of my heritage.
But I am 100% Canadian because it is where I was born, but more importantly where I choose to make my home.
If your wife is full-blood American (or Mexican or Japanese), then will you still call your kids Canadians?
Identity isn’t where your parents are from, its what you choose for yourself. You can no more tell your kids that they are Canadian then my Dad can tell me I’m a Dutchmen.
By all means tell them about Canada (and the US and Texas). Share who you are, where you’ve been and what it means to you.
But let them decide who and what they want to be.
Posted 14 May 2009 at 21:24 ¶“I want to say to them: you are Canadian.
Can I say that, if my children aren’t citizens? If they never vote, or expect to vote, or pay tax? If they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America? Can my kids be Canadian, even if they aren’t Canadian citizens?”
I would hope that you could say this, I would very much like that to be possible.
This piece has me wondering how much it is possible to separate a Canadian identity from Canadian citizenship? How much is the later a requirement of the former? I suspect most people, like Catelli, consider it to be very much necessary.
Almost by definition, national identities cannot transcend citizenship – that is arguably their defining feature. Unlike ethnic, linguistic, or religious identities, which regularly transcend borders, national identities are generally defined by them.
Look at Catelli’s comment above – the only real definition he provides of why he is Canadian is because it was where he was born and where he has chosen to live. I’m sure there are many other things that are part of his Canadian identity, but these were the two things he cited first, and I would bet, if asked, “what makes you Canadian?” most Canadians would answer similarly, “because I was born here” or “because I live here.”
I wonder if the Canadian identity is resilient enough that there could be people who identify as Canadian as a result of inheritance of that identity and culture through their parents without having been born or ever living in Canada?
I would like to see that be true.
Posted 19 May 2009 at 22:27 ¶This piece has me wondering how much it is possible to separate a Canadian identity from Canadian citizenship? How much is the later a requirement of the former?
I see them as two separate things. What my identity is, is a personal choice. Its not something that my parents can tell me. As I pointed out, I have a choice of identities if I wanted to.
I strongly believe that citizenship should have some sort of residency or service requirement. Being a citizen isn’t a right – its a privilege, and a citizen has responsibilities to the state that granted that citizenship.
Posted 20 May 2009 at 14:02 ¶BTW Matthew, why’d you stop blogging?
Posted 20 May 2009 at 16:09 ¶Catelli,
“Being a citizen isn’t a right.”
But for some it is. Anyone born in Canada has the right to Canadian citizenship, it can’t be taken away. And once granted by birth, the obligations, if one wants, are pretty minimal.
Your identity may be a choice for you, but it is more limited for others, and it may be even more limited for you than you realize.
It would probably be difficult for you to “choose” a Russian or Chinese identity for example.
Also, I think most people feel much more strongly than you seem to, that their identity was at least in part determined by their parents and grandparents. If a children are raised by their parents, their culture, values, ideas, teachings cannot help but have an impact on their children’s identities. Of course my kids will be different than me, but I would be pretty disappointed if they didn’t also carry on part of the identity I impart to them.
And even in your case your identity has been determined by your parents and grandparents. Your grandparents chose to move to Canada. Your father chose to stay here. Had they chosen another country – America, England, Netherlands – would you have been as likely to choose Canada? Did you father not instill in you some sense of pride and identity in being Canadian?
As you say, identity and citizenship are indeed two different things. What I think is interesting is whether one could hold a strong Canadian identity without holding Canadian citizenship.
Posted 20 May 2009 at 18:52 ¶If my grandparents had moved to another country, I wouldn’t exist. My mother was here.
And that is a major point. Who will be the mother of Mader’s children? How does her citizenship or identity play into the children? What if she’s a dual citizen?
Furthering this, What if two dual citizen parents marry and have children? Are the children entitled to 4 citizenships?
I understand its complicated, and that the more we try to define these things in law, the squirrlier it gets. Take Mader, under my definition he might not be Canadian anymore. I suspect he’d strongly object to that. Not that he need feel offended. Heck, my sister took advantage of my father’s Dutch birthright and became a Dutch citizen. She used that to get into the EU so she could live in England. I now no longer consider her Canadian. She’s a European now in my books. What she calls herself, I have no idea.
I like to keep things simple, and clear cut. I don’t agree that birth guarantees citizenship forever (I’m obviously in a small,very small, minority).
Posted 21 May 2009 at 11:36 ¶Post a Comment