Tighter law a good step

Canada’s new regulation, to come into effect in April, will set limits on who qualifies for citizenship, the Globe and Mail reported Feb. 3.

The new law means children born or adopted outside of Canada to parents who are citizens, but who were also born or adopted outside of Canada, won’t be given automatic citizenship.

Canadians who work outside the country are worried their children could be stateless if they’re born in a country that doesn’t grant citizenship by virtue of birth, such as Kuwait.

The Immigrant Department said stateless children can be sponsored by their Canadian parents as permanent residents. They can apply for Canadian citizenship if they’re under 23 and have lived in Canada for at least three of the four years preceding the application.

The new law is an appropriate measure to prevent people born overseas from obtaining Canadian citizenship, moving back to their home countries and passing citizenship on from generation to generation.

It’s excessive to allow unlimited transfer of citizenship to generations who may have never even been to Canada.

Citizenship in any country is a privilege. Its implication is that, in exchange for contributing to a country in taxes and social service, the state is responsible for protecting and providing for its citizen wherever they are in the world.

But if the law is applied too rigorously, it could overlook the specific circumstances of each case when they should be taken into account individually.

As society moves into a global context, it’s difficult to justify defining rights to citizenship on the basis of birth alone.

This new law shouldn’t limit or discourage Canadians from taking international work opportunities.

Other factors, such as economic and social contributions to Canadian society and residency in Canada, should be considered as well.

Although children of foreign-born Canadians should be required to apply for their citizenship, special consideration should be given to their applications, such as quicker processing.

In order to preserve the value of Canadian citizenship, the state must strike a balance between applying the already-lenient laws too liberally and over-enforcing them.

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