I guess I should start with kind of a show and tell. I don't even mind passing them around.
This is a picture of a bunch of women in World War II in the air force for Canada. One of them, with the little arrow, is Kathleen Fremont, who is a lost Canadian. Her brother served in the Pacific, and she really wants to come home.
This is a picture of me holding my daughter, who's now 21--she's just a baby--standing on the border of Canada, and I'm trying to get my citizenship.
I started this process 36 years ago, and I was born in Canada. Here's my birth certificate.
We've done something very good. Everybody now recognizes that there are hundreds of thousands of people affected by this. We're down to, let's say, killing this bill or passing the bill. There's no question; everybody I talk to is on board. The only ones who are not on board are politicians. But the people who are affected are all on board for this bill. Frankly, given Ottawa politics, the way they are right now, this bill might die. So time is really of the essence.
We have a lot of solutions on this one. I've been dealing with all parties along the way.
Here's something. This was brought out just at the end of December. The Civil Liberties Association names the best and worst of 2007. Among the best things in Canada was the lost Canadian stuff that you guys have been doing here in committee.
We're there at the end. I don't want it killed.
Here's something. I have three copies of this if you want to take a look. Here's the United Nations magazine Refugees. If you look at the cover, they're dealing with this strange, hidden world of the stateless. And you look at it and say, what kind of country would do that? And as you turn the page, it just becomes appalling--until you get to dead centre, and they're highlighting the lost Canadians of Canada.
The Economist did a thing on Canada. This is our chance to show the world by our actions that we can easily correct human rights, and this is a human rights abuse. Everybody agrees with it. So it might not be perfect, but hundreds of thousands of people are affected, and believe me, I know the law really well.
Here's the 1947 act, and it says that Canada will give me back my citizenship. But somehow we've fallen through the cracks, and they haven't for 36 years. In all that time--going back 61 years, since the politicians made a mistake--nobody's had the guts to really turn around and correct it until now. So thank you to all of you for putting in all the work you have.
The only thing I can say is let's pass it. It doesn't look as though it's going to go with amendments, so we're saying we'll deal with that down the road, but at least we get our citizenship. This is truly a life-and-death situation for an awful lot of people. When you're dealing with World War II veterans, if we go further, a lot of them won't be alive. Unfortunately, I've been at this a long time. I am the centre of this thing, and I have seen a lot of people die over the years, disenfranchised from the country they defended.
I can get into a lot of very specific issues, but we'll do that in question period, I think, Norman. I'm ready at any time.