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rfmcdonaldThe CBC carried the Canadian Press article reporting on the quixotic quest of Trinidad-born civil rights lawyer Charles Roach to become a Canadian citizen without swearing an oath to the Canadian crown.
I can appreciate how the situation must have been a Catch-22 from his perspective--how could he change the oath of allegiance he’d have to take to become a citizen without becoming a citizen by taking the oath of allegiance he didn’t want to take?--but in the absence of any desire on the part of Canadians and their representatives to change the terms of admission into the Canadian political community, and the lack of any obvious injustice found in the situation by the courts, Roach choose to get stuck on his own principles.
I can appreciate how the situation must have been a Catch-22 from his perspective--how could he change the oath of allegiance he’d have to take to become a citizen without becoming a citizen by taking the oath of allegiance he didn’t want to take?--but in the absence of any desire on the part of Canadians and their representatives to change the terms of admission into the Canadian political community, and the lack of any obvious injustice found in the situation by the courts, Roach choose to get stuck on his own principles.
A man who refused to take the oath of citizenship, because of his opposition to the monarchy, has died with his decades-long dream of becoming a Canadian unfulfilled.
Toronto civil-rights lawyer Charles Roach, who immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago more than half a century ago, died Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer. He was 79.
Roach had fought to change the country's citizenship requirements to allow people to swear an oath to Canada instead of the throne, which he said represented a legacy of oppression, imperialism and racism.
A New Democrat MP is now calling on Ottawa to make Roach, who was a prominent community activist, a Canadian citizen posthumously. In a statement Wednesday to the House of Commons, Andrew Cash urged the government to honour Roach with the status.
"People may not agree with the views that Mr. Roach expressed around this issue, but I think you can disagree and still respect the man and his contributions," the Toronto MP said in an interview from Ottawa.
Cash said he tried asking Immigration Minister Jason Kenney last week to fulfil Roach's dying wish to become a Canadian citizen by pledging allegiance to Canada, instead of the Queen. He said Kenney did not respond to the request.
[. . .] Immigration Canada quickly shut the door on any chance that Roach would be given his citizenship after death.
"There is no provision under the Citizenship Act for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to grant citizenship posthumously," a departmental spokesman wrote in an email Wednesday.
The department said the oath is mandatory under the act and any amendment would first have to pass through Parliament.
[. . .]
[Roach's] stance against uttering the oath nearly forced him to give up his profession because of an old requirement that said he had to be a Canadian to practise law. [Colleague Peter] Rosenthal said Roach even declined an opportunity to become a judge over his refusal to take the oath.
