38th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION

Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

EVIDENCE

CONTENTS

Saturday, April 9, 2005

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The Chair (Hon. Andrew Telegdi (Kitchener—Waterloo, Lib.))

Mr. Bobby Brown (As an Individual)

Mr. Bobby Brown (As an Individual): Good afternoon, folks.

    I'd like to show you my birth certificate, to begin with. It's from Prince Edward Island, and it says I was born August 8, 1944, Robert Finbar Brown. It shows that I am a Canadian. The only problem is that CIC feels differently.

    I was born in North Lake, Prince Edward Island, in 1944. That was three years before Canada had a Citizenship Act.

    My web page, at www.lostcanadianchildren.com, begins with a quote from former Minister Coderre, who said it best: the best thing about being a Canadian citizen is the feeling that you belong to a family, a community, a country.

    Well, Canada, how about me? How about all the rest of these people? How much more could I feel that I belong to Canada than the fact that my MacLaren ancestor came over here and settled in Greenwich, Prince Edward Island, in 1770? In fact, I'm still there today--in heart, anyway.

    I left there in 1948, in a single decision by one parent that has caused me a lifetime of searching and heartache. I remember vividly the day it all began. We left there on an old bus and took a train to the States. My mother sought a job as a domestic. We moved from one place to another. Many nights, of course, we went to bed hungry. Although the States was supposedly the land of promise, it had no food stamps or welfare for immigrants in those days.

    One employer's refusal to have a worker's child in the home necessitated my being placed in a Massachusetts foster home. Of course, I wasn't thinking about it then, but when I think back, where were the Canadian authorities and their talk about best interests for the children?

    Custody was later granted to my mother in 1953, when I was 10 years of age. That actual court wouldn't have had jurisdiction for anyone from another state, let alone a Canadian citizen. At 10 I was told to raise my hand and pledge an oath to be a naturalized citizen of the United States. That innocent act as a minor can't change my birthright, my heritage, and the feeling in my heart that Canada is my home.

    My stepfather was an undertaker. I was never adopted, but I worked with him from age 12. When I earned enough to get my first car, I drove straight to the Island. At the border, I was always proud to show my birth certificate to show that I was a Canadian.

    My connections to Canada have never stopped. My beautiful wife and I honeymooned on the Island, and we took our family to Niagara Falls, and to our relatives up in St. Catharines so they could get to know their cousins. We went down the Island every summer. We even planned on starting a business on Prince Edward Island in 1987, but I was denied resumption of citizenship.

    What was that all about? Well, it came down to national origin. CIC grants nationality and citizenship to millions of immigrants and refugees. The pendulum, I saw it swing 180 degrees after 1977. Children of Canadian parents in any country are automatically granted citizenship without the point system or having to set foot on Canadian soil. Here we are, the lost Canadian children, born in Canada, the home of our national origin, asking for nothing. It's unjustifiable inequality, I feel. Why is our national origin, being born in Canada, being used to deny us access to the venerable privilege of citizenship when that's clearly one of the enumerated rights in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

    If laws supposedly evolve to correct past injustices for all others--children born abroad, Japanese immigrants, first nations, even Senators and House of Commons members born outside of Canada--why hasn't it evolved for those of us born in Canada? Well, CIC has always stuck to the story that I lost it because it was an automatic loss.

    Bottom line? I'd like to say to them, flat out, that children can't renounce or acquire citizenship. An adult is held accountable for renouncing citizenship, but our society and laws say that a child is never held accountable for the acts of a parent; otherwise, it's discrimination by association.

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    Lawmakers have consistently made provisions to guarantee that a minor who lost his citizenship automatically could reacquire it by a simple declaration within one year of majority, or longer periods in special circumstances. I couldn't think of a more special circumstance than that of the lost Canadian children.

    We have never renounced Canadian citizenship. We weren't given due process or the choice of allegiance at our age of majority, as accorded by the Canadian Citizenship Act.

    So what is it our opponents don't understand? Lost Canadian children are natural-born citizens by birthright. We have a right to it without earning or qualifying to be worthy of it. The only reason we've had to endure loss of nationality and citizenship is because we were innocent, vulnerable children. But now we've grown up.

    The UN, of course, is all wasted, empty talk. They repeat declarations, the fact that everyone has a right to nationality, that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived, and Canada stands up and says the UN declaration on rights says that children need special safeguards. The Convention on the Rights of the Child spoke of the importance of being attentive to the rights of children. All of this and yet Canadian citizenship authorities show total disrespect to us and our future rights and best interests, especially the right to reunite with family and loved ones in Canada.

    I feel that the main reason we lost citizenship and nationality has been overlooked: the War Measures Act. Canada was in a war mode, and laws were written for the times. If Canada revoked the citizenship of Canadian-born children automatically, they could stop German, Japanese, Ukrainian, and Italian--you name it--naturalized parents who fought against the Allies from resettling in Canada. There was no supposed discrimination. The nationality of European and Asian children passed via the rights of the father--nothing to worry about.

    No one thought the War Measures Act would include the lost Canadian children; nevertheless, we were lumped into the same group. The only problem with the rationale was that our parents were natural-born Canadians, and lost Canadian children were never the enemy. Parliamentarians of years ago would turn over in their graves if they knew our government had pulled this charade on its own children for so long.

    Where is the common sense, compassion, and fairness that we Canadians pride ourselves on? Why has there been such mean-heartedness from the liberal CIC towards us for years?

    If, hopefully, lost Canadian children are granted citizenship, what guarantee do we have that our families won't face the same attitude and mindset from the CIC that we've experienced over the years? Unless there's a fair and automatic citizenship granted to our adult children, a new law will only continue to divide our families for years to come.

    I left family and loved ones back in 1948, and as much as I love Canada and would love to return, I won't unless I can bring my children with me.

    Thank you, and God bless.