Thank you.

When Canada stripped me of my citizenship in 1961, many of you had not been born. I was six, so I relate to the lost Canadian children of today. They're watching you, and, by not including them, you're compounding their rejection and pain. They're not stupid. They know that Canada doesn't want them. It's akin to being booted out of your own family. I know the agony and the gut-wrenching feelings both as a child and as an adult.

With Bill S-2 in 2005, I could be Canadian again but my minor-aged daughters weren't welcome, and I was born in Canada.

Canada must practice what it preaches: fairness, compassion, inclusion, peace, order, good government, equal rights and, above all, human rights. With lost Canadians, Canada has failed miserably.

As an airline pilot, I'd never ditch an airplane and willingly leave my passengers behind. As a Canadian, I can't leave fellow lost Canadians behind, particularly children and babies, and neither should you. Without amendments, you'll be condoning forced family separation, tiered citizenship, statelessness, women having fewer rights than men and booting out 111,000 of Canada's soldiers.

“To stand on guard for thee”—is that just hyperbole?

Canada is contravening three UN human rights conventions, the charter, the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the rule of law. Are you okay with that?

Lost Canadian children face depression, anxiety, loss and suicide. They suffer no differently than the residential school survivors. Did you know that lost Canadians include indigenous people and that the Catholic Church sold Canadian babies? Did you know about the murdered butter box babies and the pre-1947 Chinese Canadians? Should they be remembered as only stateless, registered aliens?

Bureaucrats talk about unintended consequences and of creating future lost Canadians. Well, that ship has sailed. Let's talk about intended consequences. By not adding amendments, you'll be creating far more lost Canadians.

Thirteen years ago, I gave a detailed report to Nicole Girard. Nothing happened except that the issue got exponentially worse. We're here today because of intended consequences. Bureaucrats want subsection 5(4) grants. It's a cruel and awful solution. An IRCC director general recently explained how the 5(4) process has become political, with the outcome being at the whim of a bureaucrat or politician. It should be by operation of law.

The children of one family have been denied five times in 14 years. From newborns to teenagers, all they have known is rejection. There's a 12-year-old Canadian citizen, an orphan boy, currently in Syria. IRCC cancelled his caretaker aunt's citizenship without a hearing or judicial review. One day she's Canadian; the next she's not. IRCC encouraged her to apply for a grant. It was approved three years ago, but two citizenship ministers won't sign off. This Canadian child is currently in an earthquake war zone. His twin sister and father were killed by a random terrorist bombing. If anything happens to this boy, Minister Fraser, by his inaction, makes Canada an accomplice.

Remember Alan Kurdi? Are you ready for that negative press from around the world? I have 28 other horror stories of 5(4) grants, including my own.

Sometimes individuals got deported. For example, Pete Geisbrecht, a 28-year-old, was given by IRCC 30 days to voluntarily get out of Canada. If he didn't leave, he would be shackled with bracelets. The authorities threatened him in front of his wife and child, and they will never forget.

Lost Canadian Roméo Dallaire called IRCC's process “inhumane” and “bureaucratic terrorists”. Bureaucrats are consistently inconsistent and make lots of mistakes. Case processors often don't know the laws, and they come and go. There have been four citizenship ministers just under Mr. Trudeau. What's needed is a dedicated citizenship ombudsman.

Since 2009 CIMM has done 128 studies. Only six were on citizenship, so obviously, citizenship is not your priority.

Canada is supposed to turn immigrants and refugees into good Canadian citizens, and I can show, with me, that they often turn Canadian citizens into immigrants. They do it the wrong way. After one of our court cases, Monte Solberg said the decision could cost tens of billions. That's a lot of money just to keep Canadians out of their own country.

There's another charter challenge. It's going to be heard next month. The government's arguing against equal rights; we're arguing for equal rights. If the government wins, out goes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as you know it.

Without amendments, there will be many more charter challenges. With amendments, that becomes moot.

As for derivative claims or conferring citizenship to people unknowingly or any other concerns, I can help you. I want to fix the issue once and for all, and I hope you do too.

Thank you.

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