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    April 17, 2008 Bill C-37 Receives Royal Assent! Victory at long last!!
 





 

 

  
 

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April 11, 2008: Ottawa, Click for larger image: L-R: Andrew Telegdi, MP Kitchener Waterloo, Robert Addington, London, Ontario, Bill Janzen, Exec. Director, Mennonite Central Committee of Canada, Don Chapman, Lost Canadians, Melynda Jarratt, War Brides, Meille Faile, BQ MP, Hudson.
Don Chapman in Ottawa
Don Chapman works the phones in Ottawa, March 26, 2007.

Thursday, April 17, 2008: WE WON! Bill C-37 receives Royal Assent and the Citizenship Act is now changed!

Click here to read the April 16 Press Release of the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship or read this excerpt below:

"With the third-reading passage of Bill C-37 in the Senate today, the Citizenship Act will be amended to give Canadian citizenship to those who lost or never had it, due to outdated provisions in existing and former legislation. The law will come into effect no later than a year following Royal Assent.

People who are citizens when the law comes into force will not lose their citizenship as a result of these amendments. The law will give citizenship to:

  • People who became citizens when the first citizenship act took effect on January 1, 1947 (including people born in Canada prior to 1947 and war brides) and who then lost their citizenship;
  • Anyone who was born in Canada or became a Canadian on or after January 1, 1947, and who then lost citizenship; and
  • Anyone born abroad to a Canadian on or after January 1, 1947, if not already a citizen, but only if they are the first generation born abroad.
  • The exceptions are those born in Canada to a foreign diplomat, those who renounced their citizenship with Canadian authorities, and those whose citizenship was revoked by the government because it was obtained by fraud.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008: After receiving the Report of the Senate Committee on Science, Social Affairs and Technology, Bill C-37 passes Third Reading in the Senate. Next step, Royal Assent. Click here to read the Report of the Senate Committee on Science, Social Affairs and Technology

Thursday, April 11, 2008: Senate Committee Hearing with the Minister of IMmigration, Don Chapman, Melynda Jarratt, Bill Janzen, Prof. Galloway and Canadian Council of Refugees.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007: Government urged to draft all-new citizenship law for lost Canadians. The federal government is being urged to draft a new citizenship act rather than implement patchwork reforms to the "archaic" legislation now on the books. Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi and Don Chapman, who represents many so-called "lost Canadians," say Tory government proposals to amend the Citizenship Act are admirable but fall short. Click here to read full story.

Monday, December 10, 2007 is International Human Rights Day and the day when Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley introduces the Lost Canadian Bill into the House of Commons for first reading. Click here to read Bill C-37, an Act to Amend the Citizenship Act.

Thursday, December 6, 2007 - Report on Lost Canadians recommending changes to the Citizenship Act is tabled in House of Commons, has all party support. Click here to read the Committee Report [492 k PDF format] and media coverage.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - Joe Taylor confirms he has been offered and accepted citizenship by the Minister of Immigration, Diane Finley. Click here for more information.

ARE YOU CANADIAN? THERE ARE NINE DIFFERENT WAYS A PERSON CAN BE STRIPPED OF THEIR CITIZENSHIP. READ HOW YOU MIGHT BE AFFECTED (Word document)

Check out what CBC has to say about the Parliamentary hearings this week! http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/lostcanadians/

Tune in to the Parliamentary hearings on Citizenship and Immigration live from Ottawa: Monday, Feb. 26, March 19 & 26, 2007. Broadcast begins at 11:00am EST. TUNE IN!

Video from CBC National, February 26, 2007.

For more information on Lost Canadian children, go to www.Telegdi.org or www.LostCanadianChildren.com

For more information on Joe Taylor, War Bride son who is fighting for his citizenship, visit www.CanadianWarBrides.com

February 7, 2007
When is a Canadian not a Canadian? This issue is now getting international coverage! The Economist

February 2, 2007
Joe Taylor is a War Bride child that has taken the Federal government to court to win his citizenship back. Read up on his court documents. click here

Eswyn Lester is another Canadian War Bride who is fighting to help the cause. Read the reply she received from Buckingham Palace after she wrote to the Queen asking for help. click here


February 1, 2007
There are nine categories of Canadians. Are you one of them?
Click here to download document. (Word 58 k)

January 31, 2007
The media has been in a frenzy lately about the Lost Canadians and hopefully you have had a chance to either read a recent news article or hear a radio broadcast. Now that people are rushing to get a Canadian passport to be able to travel to the United States, more and more Canadians are finding out that their application is being denied. CIC is telling people that they are not Canadian if they fall into one of the 9 catagories of the Lost Canadians.

CBC Radio St. John, New Brunswick will be doing a live broadcast with Don Chapman February 1, 2007 at 7:30am, NB time. Please tune in: http://www.cbc.ca/nb. It should be featured on the Just Wondering section of the program.

We have added more news links to help you catch up on what's going on. Keep your eyes and ears open in the next few weeks for new developments.

Nov 1, 2006
Heritage Minister says a big NO to the Year of the War Bride:

Dear R.H. Addington:
Thank you for your correspondence of October 6, 2006, regarding the 60th anniversary of the arrival in Canada of the War Brides.
I appreciate your advising me of your views and have carefully noted your comments on this matter. While the Government of Canada acknowledges the vital role that war brides played in building our nation, it does not plan to proclaim 2006 as the Year of the War Bride.
I regret that my reply could not be more favourable. Please accept my best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Bev Oda, P.C., M.P.
c.c.: Mr. Charlie Angus, M.P. Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia, M.P.

September 29, 2006
Tories appeal BC Federal Court Ruling that granted citizenship to War Brides and children. Click here for more information...

I happen to be one of the many thousands of Canadians who had their citizenship taken from them involuntarily. In my quest to reacquire my citizenship, it has really become a mission for all of the people who, unfortunately, find themselves in the same position as me. It is also a fight for all Canadians to be treated with equality in regards to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As it stands, I fall under a 1940’s law that made me, in essence, the property of my father.

I certainly do not want to imply that my father did anything wrong - he didn’t. It’s just that he took out citizenship in another country. Therefore as a minor child, I too lost my Canadian citizenship. At that same time, women were also deemed as second-class citizens, being chattel of their husbands. While the 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act was repealed in 1977, the new law was not made retroactive. Therefore, for all the others and myself, we are still held to the standards and laws that were in place 55 years ago! I think it’s time for Canada to move forward and correct this most discriminatory law. NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER should a person be legislated into being second-class non-citizens with NO rights whatsoever.

Please feel free to email your story or thoughts to me (chapman@lostcanadian.com). Above all, however, please (and I sincerely hope you do) contact your MP as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper Harper.S@parl.gc.ca and the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley Minister@cic.gc.ca , urging them to correct this incredibly outdated and archaic law.

You will see that I have an easy link for you to send your comments. Because of the action from good people like you, that will be the best chance we have to regain our place back into Canadian society as productive citizens. Without your support, I’m afraid we will continue in obscurity.

Remember the saying, "In Germany, they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't Jewish. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up." Your feelings will only make a difference if you assert them.

My sincere appreciation for your help.

Don Chapman

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