One of the things I would like to mention is that there have been some really tough calls, on my part. I've dealt with so many people over the years. One of the hardest phone calls I ever had was calling Sheila, within days of her father's dying. Her father, who fought for this country, had one wish: to have his daughter reunited as a Canadian child before he died. It did not happen. I have had four fathers not have the right to have their own child reunited with them because of this process.
I remember these ups and downs; we've all lived them. We won in Bill S-2. Bill S-2 is so wrong in the fact that it does not allow me to bring my children. So what are my children going to be like? Will they be like this when I die? If I get my Canadian citizenship but they can't come here, it's wrong. We don't split families; that's what Canada is not about. But we have done so under the 1947 act, and we continue to do it.
The emotional roller-coaster this woman has been on, when I said we won in Bill S-2—
Mr. Siksay got a letter from Joe Volpe saying “We recognized the war brides and their children on January 1, 1947, as being Canadian citizens.” Sheila was absolutely elated: “I'm a Canadian”. Then we discovered she's not.
Then Diane Finley sat in this room one week ago and said, “Nobody will lose benefits; everybody will have the right of citizenship.” And once again Sheila was told no.
She's not the only one on this roller coaster. My father, who fought for this Canada, was an officer in World War II. I'm sorry to say it, Sheila, but he was never awarded his citizenship back. He died not being welcome in this country.
Then we have other people like Sheila. In one case, Citizenship and Immigration wrote a letter—I included this in your packet—to Stuart Martin, and said, “You have not been a resident of Canada long enough to retain your citizenship.” Ah, but we get another letter from Revenue Canada saying, “You've been a resident for years here. You owe us taxes.” Something is wrong.
We also have Barbara Porteous. Barbara, would you come up here, please?
These are arcane, stupid laws.