I'll begin by saying that Children's Bridge is the largest international adoption agency in Canada. Our members were very encouraged when Bill C-14 was introduced, as it allowed their children to become Canadian citizens once the adoption was finalized. The majority of adoptees from abroad are under the age of three years old, and, as one father says, “My daughters are no longer Chinese citizens. Canadians are who they are.” Clearly they are not people who are Canadians of convenience.
At this point in time, the Children's Bridge has received the following expressions of concern from its members. There are different rules depending on how one became a citizen—in other words, there is a two-tiered citizenship process in Canada. Children born overseas who come to Canada through the citizenship route will not be able to pass their citizenship onto their children if their children are born outside of Canada. If these same children came to Canada via the sponsorship immigration process, they would be able to pass along their citizenship. A person born in Canada is able to pass on Canadian citizenship. It is understood that if one of the parents of a child born outside of Canada were a natural-born Canadian or a naturalized Canadian, then the child would be a citizen. These rules constitute discrimination and are a human rights issue. They thus will justify a constitutional challenge.
The idea of a two-tiered citizenship process is confirmed by the writing of the rules, which specifically identify adopted persons. This is a clear targeting of a specific group and grants fewer rights to this group than to other Canadians. It is difficult to see how specifying this group serves any intended purpose.
Some children could find themselves stateless if they were born in a country where citizenship was not granted to those born in a country to parents of a different nationality. Some examples are Switzerland and the Bahamas.
A few examples of the types of struggles our families are facing are below: Our family travels to Switzerland on business and it is real for our family that our grandchildren could become stateless.
Should I switch from the citizenship route for adoption to immigration? I phoned immigration and they told me they have never heard of this themselves.
Our children already face discrimination. They already need to integrate into a mixed race family and culture. When they grow up they will then find out that in fact their children do not have the same rights to citizenship as their nieces and nephews whose parents were born here.
We have two levels of citizenship in our own home. Some family members who were born in Canada and/or adopted domestically and other family members whose children could potentially become stateless or who may need to sponsor their own children to become Canadians.
The impact this is having on the adoption process is that families are not taking advantage of Bill C-14, although it was a very welcome piece of legislation when it was introduced. They're opting more often to go the sponsorship route. This route has much faster processing times and will allow their grandchildren, no matter where they are born or who the other birth parent is, to be Canadian citizens.
One may argue that the number of people affected in the future will be small. Within the adoption community, we have families who travel or who have homes overseas. Their children may be involved with trips back to their birth countries; these children may ultimately work outside of Canada; there are many scenarios. It is not at all inconceivable that they would marry someone not born in Canada or that they would not give birth outside of Canada, even though their ties to Canada are very strong and it remains their home.
The federal government has a responsibility to all its citizens. In trying to right a wrong, our children's children pay a sacred price: they could be stateless. We need to speak for our children, who are not old enough to speak for themselves. We also need to be a voice for families who are very concerned and confused at a time in their lives that's already stressful and full of anxiety as they prepare for international adoption.
For the adopted persons who come to Canada through the programs where adoptions are finalized in-country, we need to be assured by our government that their children and grandchildren will have the same rights to citizenship as their brothers and sisters who were born in Canada.
Thank you.