Pickering war bride was unaware that she was not Canadian.
By Danis Foster | Tue, 04/21/2009 - 23:16
With the belief that she became a citizen of Canada in just six weeks, she arrived in Halifax in 1947.
But last week, when the 87-year old Doris Madder expressed her desire for a new health card, she found that she isn’t a Canadian citizen at all.
She said from her Pickering apartment that she has been here for more than 62-years and was never aware of this until last Monday.
For many years, she has been continuously voting with the help of her Elections Canada voting card, two of her children are born in Canada in addition to the two who accompanied her from England, she has done steady job and even gets a Canada pension. She also married a soldier of Canada while in England.
Melynda Jarratt, who is a historian having great interest in war brides, said that due to the outdated immigration laws of Canada, there are thousands of people who are in similar position to that of Ms. Madder. She said in an interview that Ms. Madder is one of those people who are known as ‘lost Canadians’ and said that there are more than twenty-five thousand war brides and their children who find themselves in pitiable positions due to the outdated laws.
The first Citizenship Act was passed in Canada in the year 1947 which instantly demanded all people who immigrated to Canada to file their application for Canadian Citizenship.
Ms. Jarratt said that there are many people in Canada who in spite of serving for over twenty-five years in Canada are told one day that they are not citizens of Canada. She said this in reference to people who were out of the country during the period they had to apply for citizenship.
She said that Ms. Madder must have been ignored because she had been using her British passport.
But last April, the act was updated by the federal government and according to the updated act, citizenship would be given to all who were born in Canada or became citizens of Canada after 1947, but failed to retain citizenship due to some loopholes in the system. It is expected that the updated act would come into effect from the month of April.
Spokeswoman of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Madona Mokbel, said that though she cannot comment specifically on the case of Ms. Madder, the amendment is applicable to only those war brides who have lived in Canada from at least five years before 1947.
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