A bilingual pun! You should be living in NB, not NS.

Hubby rang CIC today (see what these posts prompt us to do) and were told we should here any day now. Hm, where is that book??

Clare

I have heard it said that one of the main advantages of citizenship is that you are no longer seen as a flight risk by employers.

Officially, in addition to giving you the right to vote, having Canadian citizenship means:

On the issue of passports, I don't suppose a Canadian passport is a big deal to British subjects. In my case my other choice would be a Swaziland passport. When I look at it that way, a Canadian passport looks very attractive indeed.

Speaking for myself, I can't imagine foregoing the opportunity to vote.

Becoming a Canadian citizen improved my husband's employment situation.

While he was still a PR he worked as a contractor for a consulting company that did work for an oil company. When we became Canadian citizens, my husband's colleagues took us out for a celebration lunch and gave us handsome leather passport wallets as gifts.

Within a few days the oil company offered my husband a permanent, full-time job -- for better pay than the consulting company was giving him and with benefits that the consulting company didn't give him. No one mentioned a word about his citizenship being a factor, but you didn't need to be the proverbial rocket scientist to see the connection.

Come to think of it, there is an irony in my typing a message on this topic just now. Even as we speak, my husband is attending the funeral of the oil company employee who offered him that job back in 1980. The man subsequently had a happy retirement and died at the age of 82.

You can work for the Canadian government, in most cases, even if you're not a citizen. Getting a permanent job with the government if you're not already "in" is a non-starter for most people, regardless of citizenship.

I believe that a few years back it was discovered that a federal government minister wasn't actually a citizen. Then again, Gagliano was a minister and later an ambassador, so anything can happen.

Thanks Judy, cowtown and last but definately not least.........Souv
I now have an insight as to what it means to have canadian citizenship.

That's a cute story.

It does reflect reality. My brother in law, who in seven years I have never heard utter a good word about anything or anyone, rang to congratulate me on taking the test. I haven't even done it yet; he was congratulating me on the fact that I was going to do it.

Funny old world.

You can also leave Canada for as long as you like and return when ever you like, and are not bound by the rules related to being a permanent resident. (You must live in Canada for two years in every five year period)

Don't forget that you also cannot be deported or refused entry to the country either.

You can be stripped of citizenship though. I think the circumstances have to be pretty unusual.

Yes, but that is a lot harder to do and more unsual and deporting a PR which happens pretty often.

People from the United Kingdom are British citizens, not British subjects.

There is still such a thing as a 'British subject' but it only applies to certain people connected with the Republic of Ireland or former British India before 1949.


Jeremy

Thanks for the clarification.

Even as a British citizen, I'm looking forward to travelling on a Canadian passport.

You get really "special" treatment travelling from Canada to the US on a British passport - I was given a big laminated card to hold (?) and escorted through airport security by my very own immigration official on my last trip to the US - meanwhile US and Canadian citizens just breezed through.

I get the feeling that not too many people with overseas passports cross the border in the prairies