Saturday, April 18, 2009

…and Then the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Arrested Him…

Yesterday, Canada granted citizenship to some people who had lost their Canadian citizenship or never had had it in the first place. Watch this video clip, then get the details here, courtesy of Citizenship and Immigration Canada*. My heartfelt congratulations to the law-abiding readers of this blog who are the beneficiaries of this boon. After all, it’s not for nothing that they say, Canada is the United States…without the crime.

But speaking of crime, if you are a criminal and are living in or traveling to a country that has an extradition treaty with Canada, watch out. According to Article 4777.1 of the Canadian Criminal Code, “[e]very person who commits an act or omission that, if it occurred in Canada, would be an offence under a federal law, within the meaning of section 2 of the Oceans Act, is deemed to have committed that act or omission in Canada if it is an act or omission…that is committed outside the territory of any state by a Canadian citizen.” And don’t think you can get out of it by renouncing your new-found Canadian citizenship. The website warns you that to be able to deny your new Mother Country’s gift, “you must…not be a threat to Canada’s security or part of a pattern of criminal activity”.

Now aren’t you glad you read this blog?

* In an apparent fit of attempted coolness, Canada took the Ministry out of all their ministries and renamed them XXX Canada.

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