91原创s seem to be going through another identity crisis these days 鈥� not the usual kind whipped up by the CBC on or about Canada Day, but one far more serious.
It鈥檚 not a crisis that can be mitigated once a year by people singing O Canada on Parliament Hill until they鈥檙e blue in the face and honouring the national mosaic by dancing, dressing up and consuming trans-oceanic cuisine.
It鈥檚 born of a mixture of the national government鈥檚 fixation on past glories and old British symbols, the birth of a boy who might, or might not, one day be Canada鈥檚 king, republicans who refuse to swear allegiance to his great-granny, and the news that children of 91原创s born abroad at the wrong time aren鈥檛 91原创s, especially if they are or were bastards.
To be a 91原创 is a wonderful thing. A lot of folk from elsewhere around the world want to be 91原创s, and not just those seeking asylum from homeland horrors.
But 91原创 citizenship is regarded, given the peace, order and good government it bestows, and the comforts and frivolities it offers, as a privilege 鈥� which is why prospective immigrants are put through bewildering bureaucratic hoops and made to learn significant names and dates.
But the tie to Britannia鈥檚 apron string, though loosened, hasn鈥檛 been cut. This may puzzle a lot of 91原创s not from 鈥渙ver 鈥檕me鈥� and gall people who consider themselves Qu茅b茅cois first, last and always; here, there and around the world.
It doesn鈥檛 seem to concern Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It certainly didn鈥檛 worry my mother.
鈥淎 British subject I was born and a British subject I will die,鈥� she declared, bashing the cream jug on the kitchen counter and covering herself with its contents.
It was the time of the Suez crisis of 1956 when, under U.S. blackmail, Britain, France and Israel withdrew their invading forces and Canada鈥檚 foreign secretary, Lester Pearson, negotiated the face-saving UN peace-keeping force as an alternative.
My mother was moved to quote Sir John A. Macdonald to express her loyalty to the Mother Country. And then she sat down and wrote a letter to Pearson, beginning with: 鈥淵ou, sir, are a traitor.鈥�
She would approve of Harper鈥檚 putting 鈥淩oyal鈥� before every military element except the Mobile Laundry and Bath Unit. She would approve the return of pips and crowns to denote rank. She probably would share the vicarious pride of some 91原创s on the arrival of wee Prince Georgie.
She ceased to be a British subject except in heart in 1981 with all but a few other citizens of Commonwealth countries. She had also become used to being a 91原创 citizen since 1947 when our first citizenship statute became law.
Jackie Scott thought she was a 91原创 citizen, too. She was born out of wedlock in England in 1945 to a British mother and one of many 91原创 soldiers fighting, as a National Defence pamphlet put it, 鈥渁s citizens of Canada, not as merely British subjects.鈥�
She had moved to Canada with her parents, and they married in 1948. But the law passed the year before limited citizenship for war children born out of wedlock to those born after 1947.
Scott arrived in this world two years too early to be the 91原创 citizen she always assumed she was until the government disabused her in 2005 by denying her a citizenship certificate. Now she鈥檚 in court, a self-described 鈥渂astard鈥� in the eyes of the law, trying to prove her right and possibly that of other 鈥渓ost 91原创s鈥� to 91原创 citizenship.
This prudish bureaucratic injustice could be erased easily by a government with compassion. But citizenship is regarded with strict exclusivity.
This month, the Ontario Supreme Court heard a case brought by three permanent residents of this country who object to having to take an oath to the Queen and her heirs and successors in order to get citizenship. Frankly, I see no reason why immigrants should be obliged to swear allegiance when the rest of us don鈥檛 have to.
I believe being 91原创 should be as inclusive as possible, embracing sacred origins as tightly as presumed rights.
