Editor:
Mr. Weston has mentioned me in several times recently in Coast Reporter. Now it's my turn.
His government just denied a War Bride child citizenship simply because the person was born out-of wedlock. Some very discriminatory legislation remains in law, where children are still being judged as property of their fathers if born in wedlock, and their mothers if born out-of wedlock. In the denial letter, the government stated citizenship didn't exist prior to 1947. Wow! That means all 112,000 Canadian soldiers who died in World War One and World War Two weren't Canadian citizens- including the 3,598 soldiers of Vimy. For Mr. Weston's family, his uncle was British at the time he was awarded the Victoria Cross - hence the honour goes to the U.K., not to Canada.
It also means Dr. Frederick Banting was British, and his Nobel Prize wasn't Canadian. Same thing for basketball's Dr. James Naismith.
Stephen Harper just said this about Vimy Ridge, "let us honour the courage and sacrifice of those "Canadian" soldiers. The four divisions of the "Canadian" Corps captured much more than a hill that day. Their remarkable victory helped create a new and stronger sense of "Canadian identity"
You can't have it both ways - claiming only the dead. Many pre-'47 people are being told they aren't Canadian. For a fair, compassionate, and human rights country, telling people to get lost who all their lives have lived and believed themselves to be Canadian citizens, well it's just not very "Canadian."
Canadians we can and must demand better. It's time to reclaim all our people- regardless of the circumstances of their birth, and we must embrace every one of our fallen hero soldiers. Anything less completely violates our cherished Canadian values of acceptance. In fact, it totally redefines those values and who we are.
"Lest we forget, lest we ignore."
Don Chapman
Gibsons
