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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 336

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 16, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 336 - Sep/16/24
Mr. Garnett Genuis
  • Sep/16/24 6:06:58 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I was responding to the member for Winnipeg North, who was speaking specifically about the individuals this bill pertains to, individuals who may be the grandchildren of Canadian citizens whose family has lived outside of the country for generations. The member for Winnipeg North said these are people who think of themselves as Canadians. My point in response to this would be that for a person thinking of themselves as Canadian, if they are not Canadian according to citizenship law, their own self-identification should not be the decisive matter. It should be the laws around citizenship that necessarily prescribe parameters. I might wish to identify as Swiss, but I am not Swiss. I do not live in Switzerland. I do not, as it happens, even have any Swiss ancestry. It would be unreasonable to try to advance the idea that my self-identification with the nationality was the decisive point, which was what the member for Winnipeg North implied. He said that these are people who think of themselves as Canadians, and I am simply saying that is not the point.
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