Thanks, Don.
I appreciate the invitation to be here and to express some of my reaction to the situation. One of the first things I'd just like to clear up is that unless somebody can admit there is a problem, the solution to the problem will never be found. It's not obvious to me, and it's certainly not evident, that there is an intent or an ability to resolve that problem. I think the situation has been well explored over a long period of time, but it doesn't look like we're there yet. That's just my observation.
My understanding of laws is that they come into being to maintain order and provide security. They're supposed to serve the interests of the public. They're supposed to be based on common sense and be tempered with reasonableness.
I don't know what happened, but something went tremendously wrong. I really cannot believe this was part of the original intent of the citizenship law the way it was written. I also note that 1945 to 1947—the time it took before this became a law—wasn't a long period of time, but it's certainly taking an awfully long time to modify the shortcomings and to take care of the evolutions of the law that have been lacking.
There are obligations of law. There's tort law, the duty of care, and responsibility for the actions and the consequences. The shortcomings of these obligations, when they fail, damage and cause harm to other people. That's something to which somebody has to pay serious attention.
For me, there's one very fundamental right. In French it comes out better than it does in English: un droit acquis, an acquired right. A mother and father decide to have their children. The child grows as it's conceived. Along the way, before it is born, it acquires the right to life while it is being fed before it is born. Throughout the life, even after birth, rights are added to those rights that are acquired at the first instance. Looking back over everything, one of the things I feel I acquired was the right of the citizenship of my father genetically, before I was born, and I'm not going to flex on that.
Later on, after completing all my schooling in Canada, I was able to acquire my social insurance number, which allowed me to work and which allowed me to pay taxes. I vote in elections. I've even been summoned to serve jury duty in a murder trial. Those are pretty Canadian experiences, but there were errors along the way.
The first error occurred three weeks after I was born, in April 1949. My mother, with her new child, was accompanied by my father, who made the trip out to the United States to accompany his wife and his new son back to Canada. When we arrived at the border, on the train, Immigration's only comment was, “Oh, you have a new Canadian”. There was no documentation of my entry into Canada. Somebody was representing Immigration at a border point during the entry of a child into the country, and something should have happened. Nothing did.
This was followed up by a second visit by some gentleman. We believe he was from Immigration, but it was a long time ago. He left a document that traces back to December 7, 1951. The gentleman came to acquire the information about the citizenship status, birth certificates, and marriage certificates for my parents and all of their children, in order that the children could be enrolled into and receive benefits or so our parents could receive the benefits on our behalf from the federal baby bonus program. He took all of the documents and we were enrolled and our parents received those benefits.
It has always been my understanding throughout my entire life that I have dual nationality: from where I was born, the United States, and also from the citizenship I acquired through my parent.
The consequences of that failing is that I have lost my employment security. The positions in which I seek to be employed all have a requirement of proof of Canadian citizenship. Through a long and lengthy process, I have not been able to get that. It has caused me many months of waiting, from March until November of last year. After not receiving any reliable information, even though all the calls down to Sydney are recorded for quality purposes, not one person I talked to had any status related to reality, and just said that somebody would be in contact with me.
When I finally received a letter I was so blown away, it was like somebody shot the light out in a room and all I could see was red, and I vomited blood for three days and was hospitalized. At that point my wife asked my older brother, who had worked for the federal government until his retirement, if he would take a look into the matter. My older brother is a very tenacious, consistent, and detailed person. He wrote letters to Prime Minister Harper, to the Governor General, and to every level of administration within his reach, looking for a solution and trying to do his best on behalf of me, his brother. I think his intent was very noble.
The outcome of that is still unknown, but it has left me financially destitute.