War Brides and their children!

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Subject: War Brides and their children!
  Fri, September 8, 2006
Judge: War child´s a Canuck

By PETER WORTHINGTON, TORONTO SUN

Last week, Joe Taylor, the 61-year-old son of a British war bride and a World War II Canadian soldier, won an astounding victory over the government that went to court to claim he was not a Canadian citizen.

Federal court Justice Luc Martineau ruled that by denying Taylor citizenship, the Conservative government -- and especially the citizenship and immigration ministry of Monte Solberg -- was in violation of the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Charter of Rights, the principle of due process, the "right of an individual not to be deprived to life, liberty or security," and was contravening the principle of fundamental justice.

That´s a lot of violations!

´LOST CANADIANS´

In the words of Don Chapman, who for years has been leading the fight for "Lost Canadians" to regain their "stolen" citizenship, "the government just got hammered."

If the government appeals, it puts at risk the families of up to 65,000 war brides who entered Canada from 1945-48, when a grateful nation ruled that they and their children were automatically Canadian.

Joe Taylor´s case differs from many others only in that the government seemed fixated on denying him citizenship -- and because he was unusually persistent in fighting back.

Taylor was born in England in 1944 after his father was denied permission by his commanding officer to marry his mother prior to D-Day.

They married after Germany was defeated. The family came to Canada after VE-Day. Joe still has the Canadian passport issued to him at the time.

His parents subsequently divorced, and young Joe and his mother returned to England (on Canadian passports).

Neither he nor his mother ever renounced their Canadian citizenships.

For years, Joe believed his father was dead. When older (and he could afford it), he returned to Canada to discover his father had died only in 1996, but had remarried and left Joe seven half-brothers and sisters in B.C. that he hadn´t known existed.

A retired accountant with a pension, Joe bought a home in Victoria, but when he tried to re-establish citizenship, he was told in 2002 that he had lost his citizenship because he hadn´t requested its retention before his 24th birthday.

"My father, mother and I were never notified on this requirement," says Joe.

"The principles of natural justice dictate that before rights are taken from a citizen, notice should be given, as well as an opportunity to respond."

He adds: "Canadian law relevant at the time I landed in Canada, July 1946, stated that the children of Canadian servicemen born while they were on active service abroad were to ... have the same status as their father. In other words, I was to be treated as if I was born in Canada."

For decades, that decision has been accepted by Canadians. Not by this government, it seems, nor the last Liberal one.

SET ASIDE DECISION

In his ruling, Justice Martineau "set aside" the government´s decision to deprive Taylor of citizenship and said "the court declares (he) is a Canadian citizen," and ordered that Monte Solberg "issue a certificate of Canadian citizenship" to Taylor. It is hard to see how Minister Solberg can appeal the judge´s decision without throwing in doubt the citizenship of countless others.

So why was Joe Taylor singled out?

In earlier court testimony, when Justice Martineau asked this question of the government´s lawyer, Peter Bell said he didn´t know.

Justice Martineau opined that if Taylor doesn´t have citizenship, not a single war bride or her child is a citizen, or entitled to a passport, or to vote.

In other words, all of the war-bride children could be stateless. Justice Martineau has righted a great wrong, which may now rescue others whom the bureaucracy has stripped of citizenship. We shall see ...

[10-09-2006,10:03]
[**.52.217.48]
Roy
(in reply to: War Brides and their children!)
Finally.
[10-09-2006,14:16]
[***.121.220.199]
Sharon
(in reply to: War Brides and their children!)
Quite frankly, this rediculous situation makes the government look lame and a wee bit stupid.... to say the least. It doesn´t make any sense even to re-visit the war bride years and laws of those days, which were quite clear about who gets to be citizen and who is not. Why haggle about that crap now? The judge should have ordered the government to dole out punitive cash payments for denying that guy citizenship.
[10-09-2006,15:03]
[***.202.54.107]
The Right Man
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