"Expatriate Canadians say their children who have been born abroad are being denied the full rights of citizenship under rules that come into effect in April," The Globe's Gloria Galloway reports today in her article Expats fear for children's fate
"Canadians who give birth or adopt in another country will be able to pass along their citizenship to their children.
"But those foreign-born children of Canadians will not be able to bestow that same citizenship on their own children should they also decide to adopt or give birth outside Canada.
"A spokesman for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said the minister has heard from parents who fear that the new law will limit the options of their children adopted abroad.
"He is aware 'of these concerns, and is seized of the matter,' Alykhan Velshi said. 'Last week, he asked his officials to review this aspect of the legislation.'
"But there do not seem to be similar plans to review the rules that will affect, retroactively, the many people born to Canadians working in foreign countries."
Ms. Galloway quotes Allan Nichols, the executive director of the Canadian Expat Association, as saying: "Hundreds of thousands of Canadians will be affected by these rules. These people may be working or volunteering abroad temporarily.
"My own children will be affected," said Mr. Nichols, whose son and daughter were born outside of Nagoya, Japan, where he was working as a consolidator for a travel agency.
"They were born abroad, but, of course, live in Canada. As bilingual (English-Japanese) children they hope to work in international trade in the future.
"Do I honestly need to tell them that if they have kids while working abroad, they will not be Canadian?"
Ms. Galloway then goes on to note: "The new regulations were released in December, after changes to the Citizenship Act were passed into law last spring. Exemptions have been extended for the children of Canadian diplomats and military personnel.
"But those who have taken jobs overseas with multinational corporations, for instance, or have gone to another country to teach or work with aid groups, will be affected . . .
"In introducing the changes to the Citizenship Act, the government was trying to prevent foreign-born nationals from coming to Canada, obtaining citizenship, then returning to their country of origin and passing along citizenship endlessly from generation to generation.
"But federal officials acknowledge they did not contemplate all of the ramifications when they crafted the legislation."
Whichever side of the argument you are on, it's an important debate for Canada's future.
That's why we at globeandmail.com were pleased that Mr. Nichols joined us online to take your questions on the issue.
Your questions and Mr. Nichols' answers appear at the bottom of this page.
The Canadian Expat Association is a non-government, non-profit community linking all Canadians living abroad under one bilingual platform.
At nearly 9% of the total population of Canada, the estimated 2.7 million Canadians living abroad can connect through the association, regardless of where they are living in the world.
As an advocate for Canadian expats, the association plays a key role representing Canadians that until now have had no collective voice.
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Gloria Galloway: Hello Allan, thanks so much for joining us today to talk about this issue which has caused much concern among parents who have adopted children overseas as well as the people you represent — Canadian expatriates.
