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Archiver > WARBRIDES > 2006-10 > 1160162094


From: "Michele, host of AWBE" <>
Subject: [WARBRIDES] overhaul of the Citizenship Act The changes couldaffect about 45, 000 war brides
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 2006 12:14:54 -0700 (PDT)


OTTAWA - Opposition MPs are slamming the Conservative government for challenging a court ruling granting citizenship to a man born out of wedlock to a Canadian soldier and a British war bride.
Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi and New Democrat MP Bill Siksay Wednesday called for an overhaul of the Citizenship Act to protect the rights of war-bride children, many of whom have been denied citizenship on technical grounds.
The changes could affect about 45,000 war brides and their roughly 20,000 children.
''It's time for this act to be fixed, because citizenship is a very important part of a person's identity, and to have that so lightly questioned and cast side is unbelievable,'' said Telegdi.
The two MPs pointed to the case of Joe Taylor, whose father was a Canadian soldier in the Second World War and whose mother was British.
The couple intended to marry in the spring of 1944, but Taylor's father couldn't secure military permission to marry because he was about to be deployed in the D-Day invasion. Taylor was born later that year, and his parents married in 1945.
Taylor and his mother moved to Canada in 1946 to join Taylor's father. At the time, the Canadian government granted automatic citizenship to war brides and their children.
Taylor assumed for years that he was a Canadian citizen. But when he decided to move to Canada from England in 1999, he was told that he was no longer a Canadian citizen because he was born out of wedlock and the citizenship regulations had changed.
Taylor has been fighting for his citizenship for several years. Last month a federal judge ruled in his favour and directed Immigration Minister Monte Solberg to restore his citizenship. But the government is appealing the ruling.
In the ruling, Justice Luc Martineau found that previous rejections of Taylor's citizenship had violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. For example, he argued that under equality provisions of the Charter, illegitimate children should not be discriminated against.
Telegdi and Siksay are calling on the government to revise the Citizenship Act to make it ''Charter-compliant.''
''We need an updated Citizenship Act, and we need justice for people like Joe Taylor,'' said Telegdi, calling the case a ''bureaucratic nightmare.''
Taylor suffered a ''double whammy'' last week, when the Conservatives announced they would eliminate the Court Challenges Program, which could have funded Taylor's citizenship quest, added Siksay.
Siksay said the citizenship-application process also needs to be revised to recognize the status of people born to Canadians serving overseas from 1947 to 1977.
''Due to a bureaucratic foul-up, many of them discovered that they had not been registered as Canadians, and they only discover this when they go to apply for a passport,'' he said.
Senator Romeo Dallaire, best known for leading a UN peacekeeping force during the Rwandan genocide, can relate to Taylor's plight. Dallaire's mother was a Dutch war bride. He was born in Holland while his father was serving there.
But when he went to renew his passport in 1972, he was told that he was not a Canadian citizen.
''To find that sons and daughters who served this country in World War II to keep it free are now in fact being questioned whether or not they're Canadian ... well, it's something that's just a little foolish,'' he said.
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service 2006


Michèle, (Belgian War Baby - USS Brazil)
American War Bride Experience
http://www.geocities.com/us_warbrides/












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