Thank you for inviting me to participate in this. I just hope I can do something to help make some change so that this doesn't happen again.
My name is Marion Vermeersch. I'm from Simcoe, Norfolk County, Ontario, and I'm a child of a war bride. My dad was a dairy farm labourer residing in Norfolk County when war broke out in 1939. With the first group of volunteers...as I said to Don, I think they just dropped their pitchforks and signed up. He went overseas as a sergeant with the Canadian artillery, where he met my mom. My brother and I were both born in Sussex. Dad was injured on D-Day but went on through to the liberation and fall and earned the France and Germany Star. He was not able to marry mom until March of 1945. That was standard for a lot of people; they just didn't get permission. Then he was discharged back to Canada, with war injuries, to Sunnybrook Hospital.
The Canadian government made arrangements for my mother, my brother, and I to come to Halifax on the Queen Mary in May of 1946. I have information provided to her by the Department of National Defence that states we would automatically be made Canadian citizens. We went and lived--and I have lived my entire life--in Norfolk County. I grew up on a small farm. My dad farmed and worked in a bank. My mother contributed the next 55 years working on the farm and on women's institutional work, and she worked in all the elections in the polling booths. My parents believed it was a duty to vote and to participate in your community. My brother joined the Canadian navy at 16 and retired as a chief petty officer. I've worked since the age of 16, and I'm still employed today in child welfare in Norfolk. We have SIN cards, we voted, we paid all our taxes, we did jury duty, and my brother even served the country.
In 2003, my brother, now retired, was planning a trip that required a passport. He went to his passport office in CIC in Calgary, and he was shocked to be told he's not a Canadian and must apply for permanent resident status. I made several visits after that to the CIC office here in Hamilton and got the same answers. When I told them my history of life in Canada, I was told it didn't matter, and furthermore it was illegal for me to vote; they didn't understand how I could have been voting and my name should be taken off the voters' list.
I called my member of Parliament, and her office didn't even know what a war bride was. They said I would have to go through the entire immigration application. I was told I should not expect any special treatment because we have to have security in the immigration process. They offered me some forms to start the application, but I didn't take them because I believed I was already a citizen.
I began to hear of more people with the same problem, so in April of 2005 I contacted my son's member of Parliament, Mr. St. Amand, in Brantford. He was knowledgeable and understanding. He told me right away about this committee and that the committee was working on the problem and a resolution would be forthcoming.
In the meantime, Peter, my brother, and I had to apply for permanent resident cards in November 2005. After 61 years out of Britain, we've had to get British passports. I must tell you, when I called the British embassy, I said, “Is there any chance I would still be a British citizen?” They said, “Of course, you never lose that. Not a problem. We'll send you a form. Send it back in and you'll have your passport in two weeks.”
When I learned that the government was going to appeal Joe Taylor's case, I again went back to the MP's office in my area to question why. Her assistant called Mr. Solberg's office and told me, “Of course, we have to appeal. The cost to make you people all citizens would be phenomenal and the government is not prepared to do that.” I said, “What costs? We already are citizens. I've been here all my life.”
I'm appalled that this country can just take people's citizenship and not tell them, or can use obscure pieces of the law that no one even knew were there to deny people their citizenship. I can't understand it.
When my son saw me off at the train in Brantford yesterday morning, he said to me, “Mom, you've got to go and speak out, because this sounds like a fascist state; those are the types of things Grandad and all the Canadian Forces fought against, and it can't be allowed to continue.”
So I hope some changes are made.