Canadians abroad are convicted of a crime, seek to come home and now the Justice Minister asks, tonight on CFRB radio, "Do we want this person?"
Hello???
These people are Canadians and did not lose that status by being convicted of a crime by a foreign court.
"We" don't get to pick and choose who "we" want. A Canadian is a Canadian. We do not have different classes of Canadian.
The proudest statement a Roman could make was "civis Romanus sum" (I am a Roman citizen).
By stating "civis Romanus sum" the Roman claimed the privileges granted to Roman citizens. So Paul of Tarsus, under trial and appealing to the Emperor, claimed his right as a citizen to be tried in Rome, and the judicial process was suspended until he was carried to the capital city (Acts 22, 27).
Lord Palmerston recalled the Roman phrase and said, in 1850, that every British citizen in the world should be protected by the British Empire like a Roman citizen abroad by the Roman Empire. He said a British subject ought everywhere to be protected by the strong arm of the British government against injustice and wrong; he would never allow Britain to abandon her subjects to a foreign power. Lord Palmerston enforced that protection with gunboats.
The dignity of Canada demands that our government respect citizenship and hold it in high esteem. Canadians who break the laws of foreign states deserve punishment yes, but they are Canadians still. They should get at least the protection Queen Victoria gave to her subjects over a hundred and fifty years ago.
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
416 225 2777
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