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Toronto, May 19, 2005 -
The Toronto chapter of Citizens for a Canadian Republic, the
organization promoting patriation of the office of head of
state, will be conducting its second annual Victoria Day Weekend
protest of the outdated Citizenship Act on this coming
Saturday, May 21 at 11 AM. The event, which was covered last year
by
all major news networks, will again be held at the Ontario
Legislature grounds. The
weekend is chosen because Victoria Day is Canada's official
celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's birthday.
CCR member Ashok Charles, a Canadian citizen since 1977, will
be leading the ceremony on the front lawn of Toronto's Queen's
Park, where he'll recant the portion of the Oath of
Citizenship that declared his allegiance to "Queen
Elizabeth II and her heirs and successors". To acknowledge
his allegiance only to Canada, he'll then reaffirm his
commitment to the remainder of the oath requiring him to fulfil
his duties as a Canadian citizen.
Mr. Charles
hopes this symbolic action will prompt an examination of
Canadian values in regards to democracy and citizenship.
"On a personal level", he says, ''I simply do not
have the slightest shred of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth or to
her heirs and successors and I don't think, to be a good
Canadian, that I need to".
"I also find it deeply disturbing that, in the 21st
century, Canadians are still stuck with a
non-resident, British
monarch as Head of State", he adds. "As
a progressive, independent
nation, Canada deserves much better".
Among others, Charles will be joined in this action by
Richard Gonsalves, another new Canadian who's equally offended
by the oath.
"I delayed becoming a Canadian Citizen for twenty-seven
years because of the oath", says Gonsalves."I found it very distasteful to swear allegiance to a foreign
monarch. I finally decided to take the oath with
fingers crossed and then
proceed to fight to have it changed".
According to CCR's National Director, Tom Freda, "It's a
major embarrassment that Canada hasn't yet dealt with this relic
of colonialism. Australia took care of it twelve years ago. It's
time for Canada to take action as well.
"We
believe it’s unacceptable that we subject new Canadians to
declaring an oath to Queen Elizabeth II and not Canada and
its laws," he adds. "People who are born in Canada
don’t have to do this to be a good citizen, why should we
expect it of people who are coming here to start a new life?
They believe they're arriving in a country where equality is
entrenched in a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, yet are
immediately faced with swearing allegiance to someone who is
supposedly not their equal and constitutionally above the law.
We are clearly not sending the right message to immigrants with
this oath and a new Citizenship Act is needed to reflect new
realities."
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Present Canadian Citizenship Oath - I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful
and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of
Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully
observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen. |
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| Australian
Citizenship Pledge (Revised in 1993 to delete reference
to the Queen) - As an Australian citizen, I affirm my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect,
and whose laws I uphold and obey. |
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| RECENT
ATTEMPTS TO REVISE THE CITIZENSHIP ACT |
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| Bill C-18 was
introduced October 31, 2002 and, among other revisions,
would have replaced "I will be faithful and bear
true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the
Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors"
with the same phrase with "Her Heirs and
Successors" deleted. On November 8, 2002 it went
through second reading and dropped from the order paper. |
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| Bill C-203
was introduced October 2, 2003. It would have amended
the act of citizenship to better define the
responsibilities of Canadian citizenship and delete
reference to "Queen Elizabeth II and her heirs and
successors." On December 2, 2002 it went
through second reading and dropped from the order paper. |
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| University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review
- The
Citizenship Oath, the Charter, and the Conscientious
Objector |
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EVENT DETAILS
DATE Saturday, May 21, 2005 (Victoria Day weekend)
TIME 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM
LOCATION The front lawn of the Queens Park Ontario
Legislature building. Free parking is available at the front and
rear of the legislature building.
SPEAKERS Guests will be political science author
Randall White, civil rights lawyer and UN war crimes tribunal
investigator Charles Roach, former Toronto city councillor Tony
O'Donohue and CCR National Director Tom Freda.
ENTERTAINMENT Toronto DJ 'Ivy' will be also be
on hand to provide music. Refreshments will be provided.
| ABOUT
CITIZENS FOR A CANADIAN REPUBLIC |
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| Citizens
for a Canadian Republic is a registered non-partisan, not-for-profit organization advocating the
Canadianization of the head of state since 2002.
More information
is available at CCR’s website. |
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Citizens for a Canadian Republic |
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