On 3 Oct 2006 21:15:35 -0700, verivin@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>JAJ wrote:
>> However - realistically, in most cases where a Canadian parent lost
>> citizenship prior to 1977, the child of such a person usually either
>> had another nationality or acquired it at the same time.
>>
>> The newspaper article has a strange definition of the word "stateless"
>> when applied to those who appear to be American citizens. "Stateless"
>> and "not Canadian" do not have the same meaning.
>
>I discussed this issue with Don Chapman, leader of the "Lost Canadians"
>group. He informs me that the use of the term "stateless" is not a
>mistake. He says that there are a number of examples in the
>documentary of persons actually made stateless by the actions of
>Citizenship and Immigration Canada. According to Chapman, this comes
>about when a person's father took U.S. citizenship previous to 1977,
>but the child did not receive U.S. citizenship. He says that when the
>child (now an adult) applies for a Certificate of Citizenship, it is
>denied...even when the applicant has provided proof that he/she is not
>a U.S. citizen. Since section 18(1) of the former act clearly states
>that minors only lose citizenship if they gain another, I don't see how
>CIC could deny the citizenship of someone who did not become a citizen
>of a foreign country.
>
>This leads to the question of how a child's responsible parent could
>acquire U.S. citizenship without the child doing the same. I decided
>to look for a chart to see exactly which children qualified for
>derivative citizenship in the U.S. See chart here:
>
>http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/CCANationality3.pdf
>
>Notice, for example, that during the period 1952-77 the child must be
>lawfully admitted to the U.S., must be under 18, and most importantly,
>BOTH parents must naturalize (unless one is already a U.S. citizen).
>
>This means that the fact that one's father naturalized (if the Canadian
>mother did not), should not lead to a loss of Canadian citizenship, nor
>should naturalizations that took place when the child was over 18 (but
>under 21), nor when the child remained in Canada while the parent was
>in the U.S.
There's a document available on the CIC website explaining the former
law:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/manuals-guides/english/cp/cp14e.pdf
Section 18(1) referred to loss of citizenship by *naturalised*
Canadians living overseas for 10 years (repealed 1967).
Section 20(1) refers to the situation you describe and it's clearly
stated that the minor must possess - or acquire at the same time - a
non-Canadian citizenship.
If someone has really been refused a Canadian passport or citizenship
certificate illegally then it should be referred to the highest levels
in CIC, and following that to the Minister. And if that doesn't work,
speak to a lawyer about court action.
Ultimately, nationality matters can only be conclusively determined by
the courts. |