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Canwest News Service
Re: When Canadians get in trouble abroad, Nov. 24
The article by MP John Weston is a good reminder to Canadian travellers of the pitfalls that can await the unwary overseas. As a retired foreign service officer with more than 30 years of consular experience in a variety of countries, may I draw attention to the most important point — not sufficiently emphasized, in my view.
It is this: More and more Canadians now enjoy dual citizenship — one by birth, the second by becoming a Canadian after emigration. Should a "new" Canadian return to his or her country of origin, even using his/her new Canadian passport, the birth country may not accept his/her Canadian status. Should trouble occur, there is little that Canadian authorities in the country concerned, or in Ottawa, can do to help. The best advice is that if you are unsure of your status in your country of origin, don't go. Or, if you do, make sure you register with the consular section of the Canadian embassy (or the Commonwealth embassy looking after Canadian interests, if there is no resident Canadian office), supplying your plans and location.
Richard H.N. Roberts
Vancouver
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This is all well but this needs to be more formalized to avoid abuse of our system. I would suggest the following:
1. Canadian citizens/residents/refugees who travel to their country of origin in complete disregard of Canadian federal recommendations should be ineligible for any taxpayer-funded assistance.
2. Moreover, travelers to some of those troublesome regions such as Kenya, Somalia, Iran or any country for which the federal government has issued a warning should be automatically ineligible to sue to federal government for millions of dollars when they do get into trouble in those countries.
3. Refugees who travel to their countries of origin from which they supposedly seeked refuge should be automatically stripped off their refugee status and be ineligible to return to Canada. If they are able to return to their countries without fear then obviously their situation was not as bad as they claimed whilst seeking asylum in Canada.
Please continue discussion on the forum: link