Dispatches from the sunburned wastelands

Just in case anybody thought it was easy to become a Canadian Citizen, have a look at this... :

Back in the 1940's, thousands of war brides (and their children) were brought to Canada by the Canadian government. These were women who married enlisted Canadian servicemen while they served in Europe, during World War II. Now, 60 years later, many of these erstwhile war brides (at least those that are still alive) have found out that they are not, in fact, Canadian Citizens.

Apparently, the Canadian Immigration bureaucracy passed an obscure law in 1977, which basically revoked the citizenship claims of anyone who was not born in Canada. However, it seems that nobody at CIC Canada thought to informn the war brides of this decision...Since then, over the years, whenever any of the ex-war brides reached pensionable age, or applied for a passport, they found out that they were not considered to be Canadian. Imagine that - living here for 60 years, and suddenly being told that you are a foreigner! And here we thought it was hard for us to obtain permanent residency status...

Posted by HannesB at 5:54 AM Comments