As an immigrant, I can tell you—perhaps it's the tragedy of immigrants—that you can never, in a sense, psychologically divorce yourself from where you're born and raised. It has a huge impact on your life. You are “that”--where you were born and raised--for a long, long time. I have tried to become a Canadian and I've succeeded to a large extent, picking up the values and mores of Canada. But I think it's important for people to be steeped in the values of a society that they want to claim a connection with, and therefore, birth should remain a substantial part of your being a citizen or not.
But that doesn't mean you don't make other people citizens; when other people become citizens, they have the same rights as any other Canadians who are born and raised here. I as a Canadian have the same rights. My children are going to have the same rights as all other Canadians. I have five grandchildren. They're going to have the same rights.
But I think it's important that citizens have a very substantial connection with the country, with the land, with the place, with the air, with the water, with the rivers, with the people—with everything you have. And you can't do that unless you are spending a huge amount of time.... Birth means that you will have absolutely some connection with the place where you're born.