Kenney’s citizenship-stripping plan good politics but dodgy policy: Walkom thestar.com/news/canada/20… – Huge ramifications!
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) February 13, 2013
Not only is this an interesting article, but it is sure to put (at least) the issue of dual citizenship in the spotlight. This would be a good place to post comments. Although citizenship is not particularly interesting from a tax perspective, it is interesting from a “terrorism perspective”.
I have always found it interesting that Canada has neither a constitutional definition nor a constitutional guarantee of citizenship.
I wonder what will happen once Canada begins to understand how U.S. persons in Canada represent a threat to the treasury. Incredibly FATCA will result in:
1. The Canadian Government turning Canadian citizens to the IRS; and
2. The IRS levying fines which will push the person into bankruptcy and force them to rely on social services.
Is this not a good reason to get U.S. persons out of Canada? A good way to accomplish this would (for those who are dual citizens) strip them of their citizenship.
Here are two particularly interesting comments to the article:
This is a very slippery slope. Terrorism is used as justification for a dictatorial law. Once in the law can be amended and give the government the power to banish from this country anyone who does not support the political direction of this government and their overlords. Heck, they could even use this law to identify and attack supporters of other political parties for whatever pretense they chose.
This is a replica of the new law in the US that Bush initiated and Obama signed into into law which allows the US government to imprison or even murder American citizens without any judicial process. They can even use “secret expert witnesses” who don’t have to testify in court and can not be questioned by defense lawyers. The Cons are now pushing for the same garbage here in Canada and they bank on the anti-immigrant hatred of the lower educated and less intelligent masses who seem to be their core supporters.
Once the idea of two-tier citizenship is well established and the only question is which group can be deprived from citizenship under certain conditions, there is nothing that prevents a government from arbitrarily manipulating those conditions as it sees fit to include or exclude any group. If you doubt that this is an inevitability, let me remind you last year’s Harperites’ attempt to expand its authority in matters of giving visitor’s visas.
This is without a doubt a one way road away from democracy and the rule of law. It is devious rather than ‘clever’, and a sure opening for a governmental abuse of power.
I would hope that Canada would be diplomatic enough to turn around and ask the citizens to renounce their American citizenship and provide refugee status to those who would wish to remain Canadian where the American government refuses to relinquish their US status.
this is a very slippery slope. Look at the Yalta agreement made between the Allied powers during WWII. As a result, a lot of Russians who had moved to other countries (and obtained citizenship in other countries) were sent back to Russia where they were greeted with a bullet to the head, or if they were lucky, 20 years of hard labour. According to the sources, this was kept secret for 50+ years.
The US strips people of citizenship, Brazil does. I bet all countries do to someone they really don’t like, especially if they arouse a lot of controversy.
@Geeez Well, in some ways that’s better than the current US policy to treat as citizens people who have ceased being citizens long ago. And frankly, it is quite frustrating that a person could go to the middle east and kill allied soldiers and then claim that they are Canadians. The fact that they are in their second country of citizenship means that they no longer deserve the protection of Canada.
I think this is actually a pretty good argument against dual citizenship, especially when the laws of both countries conflict, or when the moralistic values of both countries conflict. Depending on the two (or more) countries in which you’re a citizen of, this can either open doors for you opportunity wise, or end up becoming a serious legal problem.
Speaking for myself, there are times where I wish one of my grandparents was Irish, just so I would be rid of the damned US passport faster. :^(
Besides, if you take a second citizenship, and then commit an act of utter betrayal to that country, then why shouldn’t you be stripped of said citizenship?
The citizenship oath is more than just some words you say in order to get a travel document, yes?
….and although the homelanders could say that we’re committing an act of betrayal by renouncing, well, that is basically the point of renouncing. However, I have no desire to go to the Middle East to learn how to kill people for militant fake Islam. To trade one form of tyranny for another is just plain stupid in my view. I’m trying to flee tyranny, after all.