Citizenship oath challenge

The audacity of some people never ceases to amaze me, once again the issue of the oath of allegiance rears its ugly head in Canadian politics as persons wishing to become citizens of Canada refuse to take the oath of allegiance to the Crown. They are claiming that being forced to take the oath is a violation to their rights to freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and other kinds of rights as such they demand that it be changed to suit their own liking before they can take the oath. Of course if someone were looking at it from that point of view then they would be forced to agree especially since they are trying to make this into a human rights issue, after all these people should have the rights to express themselves however they want should they not? Why should they be forced to take an oath that they don’t sincerely mean?

But hang on a second not so fast, let’s take a step back and examine a couple of facts, first and foremost nobody is forcing them to take on Canadian citizenship, they can wail all they want about human rights but the truth of the matter is that Canadian citizenship is NOT a right unless you were born with it. It is they who wish to take on this citizenship and as such must do whatever is required to get it if they really want it. The attitude displayed by these people shows how undeserving of the privileges of citizenship they are, how are they  going to convince anyone that they are truly loyal when they won’t even pledge allegiance to the realm and its sovereign?

Secondly many of them claim that they will not take the oath because they do not like the monarchy (either the Commonwealth Monarchy or just Monarchy on a whole), fair enough everybody was born free and has a right to his or her opinion, but if they hate the monarchy so much, why bother move to Canada, which is part of the Queen’s domain? There were plenty of republics to choose from where they could migrate to, in fact there are more republics than monarchies in the world where swearing an oath to the crown is not necessary, why not migrate there? Canada for one shares a very long border with the United States, if they hate monarchy so much, how come they didn't end up in America instead they would have been right at home there.

                           

There’s a common saying “when in Rome do as the Romans do”, it’s only common courtesy that they either take the oath for find somewhere else that will take them, their actions are akin to guest coming into a home and insisting that the host conform to their instructions not realizing that the house is not theirs to order around in the first place in other words it’s just plain rude. They entered Canada and saw the system operating a particular way, common courtesy would dictate that they either work with it or leave no one is forcing them to stay in Canada, they are free to leave Canada as they are not citizens and are under no real obligation to stay. But they can’t go around demanding that Canada change its laws and traditions just because they don’t like it. I seriously doubt these people if they had migrated to the United States would ever dare to demand that the US change elements of its citizenship oath. No matter how much of a pacifist a person may be once becoming a naturalized US citizen, they  must swear that they will bear arms for their new country if needs be no matter who the enemy is, I have yet to hear anyone challenge that or any other part of the US citizenship oath, so what makes them think they can do so in Canada?, clearly they don’t respect Canada enough to obey it’s law to the fullest extent.

                     

And while on the matter of law, the notion put forward by those wishing to change the oath is that it is unconstitutional in the first place, this is the most ridiculous argument ever, one lawyer even went as far as to claim that an oath to the Queen violates the  1982 charter of rights and freedom, the very same charter that the Queen herself signed into law and which bears her name and seal, the stupidity of this argument amazes even me,  no wonder the courts in Canada have always thrown out these cases as it is clear that they have no basis in law, only in un-Canadian and unpatriotic sentiment.

                       

Some people have suggested that if they don’t like the monarchy then they should at least say the oath first and once they become citizens they would be in a better position to express their pro-republican sentiment, while anti-monarchism in any form will never ever receive my support especially in the Commonwealth at least even they have the good sense to know that trying to change the system is better done from within than without, regardless of my serious misgivings about that suggestion I can still see the point they are trying to make, which is this: foreigners have absolutely no right to dictate what the law should or should not be, only citizens have that privilege and until they take the oath of allegiance and become citizens of Canada, they really have no business lobbying the courts to turn its back on years of national traditions to suit the whims of a few  who were not even born as citizens in the first place, which begs the question, since these people hate Canada’s monarchist heritage so much why do they even want to be citizens anyway?  And what in the world gives them the right to do what they are doing?

                  

In concluding it is quite clear that those calling for a change to the oath citizenship are already demonstrating that they have no respect for Canada itself yet they want to enjoy citizenship anyway, the courts should deny their request and send them packing, The fact of the matter is these people chose Canada, Canada did not choose them, and so they should either abide by the law or go back to wherever they are coming from.