A decade ago, novelist Yann Martel referred to Canada as 鈥渢he greatest hotel on Earth.鈥� However he personally meant that phrase, it has been widely embraced as a criticism of 91原创 immigration policies that allow many foreigners to enjoy the benefits of this country without sharing in the duties and obligations of citizenship.
In other words, you can check in, enjoy the facilities, and then check out without paying the bill.
The latest kerfuffle about 鈥渂irth tourists鈥� suggests the hotel metaphor should be extended to Canada鈥檚 hospitals. According to a recent report by Postmedia鈥檚 Stewart Bell, dozens of pregnant Nigerian women, supplied with forged and stolen passports, have arrived in Canada in the past year with the sole purpose of delivering their babies on 91原创 soil and, thereby, ensuring they have citizenship.
The 91原创 Border Security Agency has, it appears, been reluctant to speculate on why so many expectant Africans were visiting Canada, merely observing that the numbers were 鈥渞eminiscent鈥� of other attempts to exploit birthright laws.
No kidding. Pregnant Chinese women have been flocking to the West Coast for years, staying in so-called birth homes until their child needs to be delivered, and then returning to China assured that if (when?) things go bad in that country, their children will have 91原创 citizenship. Korea, Haiti and French-speaking North Africa are also sources of birth tourism.
The Conservatives, normally loath to upset ethnic communities (all those potential votes, you know), recognize the problem. The government announced last year that it was considering changing citizenship rules.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to encourage birth tourism or passport babies,鈥� said former immigration minister Jason Kenney 鈥淭his is, in many cases, being used to exploit Canada鈥檚 generosity.鈥�
In 2004, Ireland held a referendum that approved revoking nationality laws that had guaranteed automatic citizenship on the basis of territorial birth. The decision prompted other European countries to change their citizenship laws so that now, no single nation in Europe grants unrestricted territorial birthright citizenship.
鈥淭he global trend is moving away from automatic birthright citizenship,鈥� says Jon Feere, a researcher with the Center for Immigration Studies. Of all the developed countries, only Canada and the U.S. maintain this practice. In the U.S., there are about 40,000 births year involving birth-tourist parents.
Politicians won鈥檛 do anything. Conservative, Liberal or New Democrat, they don鈥檛 want to risk the ethnic/immigrant vote.
This is irresponsible (as well as undemocratic). To have citizenship is to possess, at least ideally, equality with all other citizens in terms of rights and responsibilities. More deeply, to be a citizen is to be part of a larger project that spans generations; you are attached, however unreflectively, to those who have gone before and those who are to come.
But citizenship also inevitably has an 鈥渆xclusionary鈥� dimension. No nation can afford, economically, culturally or politically, to let everyone be a member. Thus, membership has value. However, if there are no obligations attached to citizenship, if, as in this case, you can enjoy the stay and depart without payment, this value is debased and, arguably, the sense of belonging others derive from their membership is diluted.
To raise such issues is to risk accusations of intolerance and racism, those all-purpose putdowns designed to prevent debate. But perhaps name-calling is worth the risk. Birth tourism breeds 鈥渃hain migration鈥� 鈥� children born of non-citizen mothers can when they reach adulthood sponsor an overseas spouse and unmarried children of his or her own, along with parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters.
This imposes a 鈥渟ignificant鈥� long-term burden on taxpayers, says Martin Collacott of the Ottawa-based Centre for Immigration Policy Reform. 鈥淲hen they are old enough, these birth citizenship children will be able to sponsor their parents as immigrants to Canada, and the latter will cost taxpayers as much as $300,000 each in terms of their entitlements.鈥�
Medical professionals are the most vocal on this issue. Doctors and hospital administrators have repeatedly complained that Canada is widely regarded as a great hospital. Hospitals, they say, receive too many women without legal immigration status who show up to give birth and then skip out before they pay the bills. Birth tourists scam the system, consuming resources for which others have paid.
As Shelley Ross, president of the B.C. Medical Association, puts it: 鈥淭o come in and use the system to your advantage and never give anything in return is not right.鈥�
No kidding.
Robert Sibley is a writer with the Ottawa Citizen editorial board.
