Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Outsiders Beware


Before the courts of Ontario, there is an application to exempt certain citizenship applicants because they object to the nature of the required oath. My letter to The National Post.

Re 'Repulsive' oath to Queen assailed, Jul 13:

Three non-Canadians complain about our laws. Common among them is their insistence on imposing their values on us.  One of them admits to an unresolved distaste of things British.  Immigrants must not seek to impose their values. The Jamaican applicant's religious values cause her to describe our head of state as "the queen of Babylon." Canadians don't need that kind of talk, especially from an outsider.

These people have accepted the invitation to our house. But will enter only on condition that we tune our television to programs they prefer, only if we say things they want to hear, only if we change our laws to suit them.

I trust our courts will refuse this brazen imposition of outsiders' conditions on our way of life. Conditions of entry are established by Canadians, not by wannabes.

Should one day, the oath to the Queen be dropped, it will be done by Canadians, not by those at the gates.