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The term "Canadians of convenience" was extensively promoted by Canadian politician Garth Turner in 2006 while Prime Minister Harper's Conservatives were in power. It was used because of the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. It is a pejorative term intended to refer to people with multiple citizenship who immigrated to Canada, met the residency requirement to obtain citizenship, moved back to their original home country, but continue to hold onto their Canadian citizenship, with those who support the term claiming they do so as a safety net. The phrase is considered racist by many since it was coined only when Canadians of Lebanese origin were airlifted from Lebanon by Canada. Many argue that this phrase would not have been coined had those Canadians been of European origin. Others argue that even though the US is more multi-ethnic than Canada, the phrase Americans of convenince is hardly ever used.

Statistics and analyses are unavailable on the distinction between evacuees who were long-term residents of Lebanon and those who were not and on how many of the long-term residents had returned to Lebanon immediately after acquiring their Canadian citizenship.

Coining of the term

Although the term was used by others (such as Peter Worthington of the Toronto Sun) earlier during the conflict in Lebanon, it was made most prominent by posts by Garth Turner, a then Conservative MP for Halton, on his blog, and the subsequent reactions. Turner questioned the fairness of paying CAD$75,000 for each evacuee, saying, among other things, "that’s a hell of a lot of money to donate to people who do not live here, don’t pay taxes here, and may never come here again in their lives."^[1] The actual cost was about $6,300 for each evacuee ($94 million for 15,000 people)^[2].

The National Post has asserted, that of the 15,000 evacuated, about 7,000 may have returned to Lebanon within a month of being evacuated. ^[3]

Support of the term

Turner was criticized by some for suggesting that there are two classes of Canadian citizens. Other editorials supported the use of the phrase Canadians of convenience and said many immigrants meet their minimum residence requirement to gain Canadian citizenship (which, since 1977, can essentially never be revoked), leave the country, and only call upon their Canadian citizenship again when in need of the publicly-funded Medicare or emergency evacuation from a war zone.

The Economist noted that "Of the 5.5 million Canadians born abroad, 560,000 declared in the most recent census that they hold passports from another country. This feeds the belief that some are using Canada as a safety net."^[4]

Government policy

The official policy of the government of Canada is that a dual-citizen is the responsibility of the foreign government when living in the foreign country; however, in practice Canada generally does not distinguish between dual-citizen and single-citizen Canadians, as was the case during the 2006 evacuation from Lebanon. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he plans to review current practice.^[5]

Canada permits multiple citizenship. For citizens of countries like China or Singapore which do not allow multiple citizenship, those who become Canadian citizens often lose their original citizenship if the original country learns of the Canadian citizenship, and the Canadian citizens generally are required to renounce their Canadian citizenship for naturalisation in that country.

Many people argue that it is plain wrong to label any Canadian, a Canadian of convenience, since any Canadian citizen, whether Canadian by birth or by naturalization, is a Canadian. Even though hundreds of thousands of Canadians live in other countries (mostly in the US), the phrase was coined only after the 2006 Lebanon event. Although the US and the UK airlifted huge numbers of their citizens, such terms were not used for those Americans or Britons in 2006. The coining of this term, many argue, clearly had racist undertones which many argue seemed quite un-Canadian.

See also

• Immigration to Canada
• Free rider problem
• Multiple citizenship
• Economic impact of immigration to Canada
• Expatriate
• Oath of Citizenship (Canada)

References

• "Here's your torch", The Turner Report, 29 July 2006, URL accessed 6 September 2006
• The Passport Package: Rethinking the Citizenship Benefits of Non-Resident Canadians, C.D. Howe Institute, Backgrounder, No. 99, December 2006, URL accessed 6 December 2006

Footnotes