Jason Kenney and the Lost Canadians

There is a website run and maintained by Don Chapman: the Lost Canadians.

Mr. Chapman states:

There are hundreds of thousands of Lost Canadians in Canada, in the United States and around the world, citizens whose right to citizenship was taken away from them without their knowledge.

The site also has a video of Terry Milewski of The National: interviewing 'a group of lost Canadians on Parliament Hill about the outstanding cases which the Minister of Citizenship, Jason Kenney, refuses to deal with, leaving one six month old baby girl stateless in China.'

This is a story that has not gotten a lot of attention, but it seems to me, to be quite important. Apparently there has been some good news, no doubt through the efforts of people like Mr. Chapman, but apparently not nearly enough.

There is also a brand new Facebook group, dedicated to raising awareness for this: Lost Canadians. Since the Canadian public have to be their own information gatherers, in the absence of any reputable media (with the exception of private, alternative and social), I do what I can to promote any cause I believe will help to get our country back.

One of the stories they've covered is that of Jack Babcock, Canada's last surviving veteran of the First World War, who:

... was a "lost Canadian," having only received his citizenship on May 8, 2008 after a mad scramble by federal politicians, including then Minister of Veterans Affairs Greg Thompson, when it became apparent that the last Canadian-born veteran of the First World War was actually an American.

Yes, Jack Babcock was an American, even though he was born in Canada. Jack was never technically a "Canadian" until 2008, because when he was born in 1900 there was no such thing as Canadian citizenship.

And another story speaks of gender discrimination:

We know of at least 100 Canadian-born men and women, their children and grandchildren whose citizenship is not recognized because of gender discrimination that is openly practised at Canada’s Department of Citizenship and Immigration (CIC). Not only is it a flagrant violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and a Supreme Court decision (Benner v. Canada), but it contradicts the spirit of numerous United Nations Conventions on Human Rights to which Canada is a signatory.

If your connection to Canada is through a female Canadian — a grandmother or mother — your application for citizenship will be turned down. But if your connection is male — grandfather or father — welcome aboard.

Groups like this are very important, because they validate people, who sadly are too often being marginalized in this country.

When Jason Kenney admitted to writing gay rights out of his 'this is how Canada should look' guide, a group started up demanding his resignation. It now has almost 8, 000 members. And of course, we all know how CAPP and it's many spin-off citizen activist organizations, helped to draw attention to the arbitrary nature of Harper politics.

It also sparked the rallies against prorogation and we are planning a future rally for April.

So you don't even have to leave your house to help turn this country around, though ultimately it wouldn't be good if you didn't go out at all. So you can also rally, hand out flyers, put up posters. Whatever it takes.

This country has taken a sharp right turn and we need to pull it back.

Because my Canada includes all Canadians. It's that simple.

UPDATE: Someone sent me a link to another story on Don Chapman. 'Lost Canadians' seek route home. Man urges Canada to fix holes in immigration laws to restore citizenship.

I'm so glad I was made aware of this because I had no idea. So please spread the words and lets bring them all home.