A class-action suit in Canada, involving Irishman Michael McAteer, is seeking to remove the English queen from Canada's ceremonial oath of citizenship, reports LEANNE LARMONDIN.
MICHAEL McATEER would really like to become a Canadian citizen. The 75-year-old retired journalist was born and raised in Whitehall in Dublin, but has lived in Canada since 1964. He has resisted taking citizenship, citing the 45-word ceremonial oath that includes a pledge “to be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty queen Elizabeth the second, queen of Canada, her heirs and successors”.
The self-described republican explains that it is a matter of conscience for him. “I know a lot of Irish people would mumble over the oath or cross their fingers while saying it,” said McAteer, who says the idea of a monarchy is “anathema” to him. “But if I am forced to take an oath, it’s binding. I can’t take an oath I don’t believe in.”
McAteer is one of four permanent residents of Canada who yesterday asked the province of Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to certify a class-action lawsuit. They allege that Canada’s citizenship oath violates their freedom of conscience, a fundamental right under the nation’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, by compelling would-be citizens to “express allegiance and faithfulness to a royal family and/or a monarchical form of government”.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages of 5,000 Canadian dollars (€3,000) for each class member, defined as persons who “because of their said objection either have not become citizens of Canada or became citizens by taking the oath under duress”. There are approximately 80 others who will join the action if the court gives the go ahead.
Kristina Dragaitis, a lawyer for the attorney general of Canada, asked the Ontario Court of Appeal last year to dismiss the case, saying that citizenship disputes should be settled in federal court. Three judges disagreed and described the case as a “straightforward, charter-based constitutional challenge of a federal law”.
McAteer would prefer that the case involved no money, but the class action could only move forward with an amount for damages. Not holding dual Irish/Canadian citizenship for the last 45 years has been, if not a hardship, at least an inconvenience. “You feel almost like a stranger, a guest in your own land,” says the Toronto resident, whose American-born wife and grandchildren are Canadian citizens. “I pay my taxes and I clean my sidewalks, I have seen more of Canada than most Canadians and still I’m not a citizen.”
Non-citizens may not vote, serve on juries or hold public office in Canada. Now a retired religion writer and editor, McAteer was also occasionally detained when work trips took him through the US. Crucially, the Canadian government could not help if he encountered trouble while travelling abroad.
Kiké Roach, one of two solicitors arguing McAteer’s case, explains that although the plaintiffs come from different backgrounds – including American, Indian, Trinidadian and Irish – their objections are philosophically similar.
Some potential class members come from nations with a history of colonial oppression; some cite the monarchy’s historical connection to slavery. One Jewish plaintiff, who took citizenship in 2008 but wrote “under duress above his signature on the pledge of allegiance, cites his religious tradition as the reason for his action. The Book of Exodus and its warning not to bow down to any “graven idols” proscribes him from promising allegiance to a particular family.
McAteer says “the whole thing is archaic and undemocratic. It smacks of the age of colonialism.” He worked for three years in the civil service in Ireland but left in 1956 as he felt the country was a little restrictive and a bit too small. He spent eight years travelling and living in England, Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand. He eventually applied for a canadian visa because he liked the country and found it more tolerant than the US. His English-born father fought on the Republican side in the Civil War and raised him on the 18th-century writings of Thomas Paine, McAteer said.
One option the objectors say could be considered is to adopt a pledge of citizenship like that of Australia, a constitutional monarchy with a fraught history with the colonial experience, says Randall White, a political scientist who has advised the plaintiffs. Its citizenship act, originally modelled on Canada’s, was changed in 1994 to a pledge of commitment, which makes no mention of the crown. A decision on whether the class action case can go ahead is expected in weeks.