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September 24, 2006
Citizens of the world
If I didn't hold two citizenships I suspect I'd be among those questioning the concept. Now that all the Canadians who were in Lebanon are safe — many back in Lebanon — I have no problem with a debate about whether dual citizenship is appropriate for Canada. That said, the debate would be a damn sight more credible if people stopped bitching about the price tag of the Lebanon evacuation. This isn't, or shouldn't be, a money issue, and indeed the evacuation strikes me as pretty much inconsequential. If in future we don't want to pay to evacuate Canadian citizens from countries in which they are permanent residents, then let's go ahead and institute such a policy.
If we're going to get rid of dual citizenship, acceptance of which is the norm among western nations, then surely we should at least prove it's a problem. Andrew Coyne's column in yesterday's Post sounds nice:
If a nation is something we do together, with and for each other, it requires us to make certain commitments to one another: to pay our taxes, to accept decisions that don't go our way, in extremis to lay down our lives for one another -- in short, to put each other first. The associations that inspire our fiercest loyalties -- our team, say, or our unit -- are not those that give things to us, but those that ask things of us. What, if anything, have we asked of ourselves?
If there was a moment when this thought began to crystallize in a lot of people's minds, it was a few years ago when Yann Martel, the winner of the 2002 Booker Prize for his novel The Life of Pi, referred to Canada as a "hotel." He meant it as a compliment, "the greatest hotel on Earth," but the image was jarring, almost transactional, implying the most fleeting sort of attachment.
And yet we have not drawn the appropriate conclusion. We still try to buy each other's affiliation, "selling" Canada to disaffected parts of the country on the basis of the benefits it can provide -- for what they can get out of it rather than what they can put into it. And we do not seem to notice that the more we have done so, the more disaffected they have become.
But is dual citizenship part of the problem? Would getting rid of it make things better? We have no idea. A lot of things have happened in the 30 years since Canada signed off on the concept that might be the cause of this "hotel" problem, if it is a problem. Millions of single-citizenship Canadians don't give a tightly coiled pile of shit about their country, while many dual citizens like me care a great deal about Canada.
(If any nation should have a problem with me it's the UK, where I've never lived or paid taxes. In a pinch I'd definitely head to the British embassy over the Canadian one, but that's just because I trust their foreign service more. I certainly wouldn't begrudge them if they sent me back to the embassy of the country I live in.)
The fact is, dual citizenship wasn't even on the public opinion radar screen until last month. This is still about the Lebanese evacuation, a situation that could have been averted in all kinds of ways that wouldn't have forced loyal dual citizens to "choose". By all means let's study whether dual citizenship is still appropriate for Canada, but let's take the word "Lebanon" out of the debate, and let's make sure dual or single citizenship actually makes a difference to anything before we alter a reasonably successful status quo.
Posted by Chris Selley at September 24, 2006 11:55 PM
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Comments
The fact is, dual citizenship wasn't even on the public opinion radar screen until last month.
Except for the hue and cry that went up when it was discovered our proposed Governor General, Michaelle Jean held French citizenship, months prior to that.
I believe the truth is that citizenship and the privileges and duties that come with it are an ongoing sore point in Canada. That we touch upon it and notice it so infrequently doesn't make the sore point any less tender, just less noticeable. Just because it lurks beneath the surface most of the time doesn't mean it's not there, Chris.
Posted by: Damian at September 25, 2006 10:38 AM
And another thing, Chris - the hue and cry came up when it became known that the citizens in Lebanan were going to be evacuated at no cost to those being evacuated.
This in fact is NOT the norm. This was a decision made by Stephen Harper's government to send a bill to those being evacuated.
The NORM is to send a bill for the costs of evacuation. So, the reasons for the hue and cry are a bit fallacious if it's about Canada spending money to evacuate folks and tax payers footing the bill.
Posted by: Ian Scott at September 25, 2006 11:28 AM
Sorry, one sentence above should read:
"This was a decision made by Stephen Harper's government to NOT send a bill to those being evacuated."
Posted by: Ian Scott at September 25, 2006 05:38 PM
Well, the uproar over Jean was whether she should be allowed to be a dual citizen, not whether any Canadian should. Too many single-citizens couldn't care less about Canada, and too many dual citizens care fervently, to draw any kind of correlation between dual citizenship and whatever existential malaise currently afflicts us. Besides which there are too many other ways to prevent the Lebanon situation from happening again to make a review of the policy necessary. If they do review it I'm betting they decide on some policy tweaks without doing away with dual citizenship whole hog.
Posted by: Chris Selley at September 25, 2006 07:29 PM
"If they do review it I'm betting they decide on some policy tweaks without doing away with dual citizenship whole hog."
And it wouldn't be that difficult. Simply find a way to streamline the process in order to bill back the expenses that are incurred.
Let folks know ahead of time that a credit card will be required, and that payment authorization will be needed, in order to do what they gotta do, to do the rescuing. Otherwise, don't call.
Posted by: Ian Scott at September 25, 2006 08:18 PM