Canadian values can only be learned by living here, judge says in rejecting citizenship application
2013/10/23 2 Comments
Sensible correction to earlier jurisprudence that had allowed for residency to be defined as legal residency, not physical presence. Imagine upcoming citizenship legislation will also make this clear as 2010 proposed changes included this as one of the measures (minority govt situation and election meant bill did not proceed).
In a judgment meant to clarify how long immigrants must live in Canada before qualifying for citizenship, Justice Peter Annis set out not only the “essential characteristics of being a Canadian” but also how one becomes “Canadianized.”
After acknowledging his comments “may exceed the bounds of judicial notice,” he wrote that being a Canadian was based on “attitudes of respect for others and a willingness to accommodate cultural, social and economic challenges to resolve our differences.”
He said he agreed with Justice Francis Muldoon, a former Federal Court judge, that “being a Canadian is something that cannot be readily learned, but only experienced by living here because ‘Canadian life and society exist only in Canada and nowhere else.’”
Canadian values can only be learned by living here, judge says in rejecting citizenship application
Multicultural Meanderings 