What is Canadian Citizenship Worth?

A man convicted in France of facilitating terrorist activity is returning to Canada. The Conservative opposition has popped up demanding that this man be stripped of his citizenship and deported immediately to Algeria.

Okay, the man has been convicted - and served jail time - for some pretty nasty things. On the other hand, has he committed any crimes in Canada? Is there any real evidence of criminal behaviour outside of his conviction in France?

Why do I ask these questions? Partly because the Conservative reaction seems to me to be rather 'knee jerk'. Worse, it calls into question several issues around Canadian citizenship.

First, it implies that if you aren't a born-in-Canada Canadian, that your citizenship is conditional. To say that this worries me a great deal is an understatement. Canada is a country that has never made retention of citizenship conditional. Once someone is 'naturalized', they are presumed to be completely equivalent to someone born in the country. Do we want to change that?

Second, what would such a change say to the world? Do we want to say to people - 'you can be a Canadian citizen, but don't break any laws'? (anywhere...)

Also, such a change could be questionable under the equal-before-the-law provisions of the Constitution. Suddenly we move into a space where citizenship can be revoked for _some_ people. This doesn't sound right.

Certainly, if Mr. Kamel has committed crimes, or commits crimes while under Canadian jurisdiction (notably, France is not a region where Canadian jurisprudence extends to), he should be apprehended and punished according to our laws.

If there is just cause to suspect that he continues to have affiliation with criminal organizations while residing in Canada, I believe we have legal constructs in place for prosecuting the man. Do we have the right to strip him of his citizenship? Not unless his application contains fraudulent claims.

As a born-in-Canada Canadian, I don't like the idea of conditional citizenship. If the Conservatives will strip someone's citizenship because they are convicted of crimes in a foreign land, when does a similar attack begin on those of us born here? What are the criteria then? If I go to some foreign country and I am convicted of - for example - bank robbery, or conspiracy to rob a bank, would that be grounds to strip me of my rights as a Canadian citizen?

More complex still is the question of recognizing the jurisprudence of other countries. Would we acknowledge the judgements made by courts in countries that practice law in ways that are contrary to the spirit of Canadian law? What bounds would we place on such recognition?

The simplistic, single case logic of the Conservatives is deeply misguided, and the issues they raise are in fact far more complex than perhaps they realize. (Which is hardly surprising, so far the party's public face has yet to demonstrate even a pidgin understanding of our legal frameworks )