SWEAR NOT TO TELL THE TRUTH

Posted on 11/30/2015

At a time when migration, immigration and citizenship are foremost in people’s minds all over the world, the case of Dror Bar-Natan, who has been in Canada for 13 years and now wants to become a Canadian citizen, resonates strongly.

The 49-year old math professor from Israel wants Canadian citizenship, but he wants it on his own terms. Bar-Natan has served notice that he plans to recant the mandatory Oath of Allegiance to the Queen immediately after he becomes a citizen. In a letter sent to the citizenship court judge earlier this month, Bar-Natan states his opposition to the oath, which he calls “repulsive,” and his plan to renege on the pledge following his citizenship ceremony on Monday. The Queen is a symbol of entrenched and outdated privilege says Bar-Natan, and claims ludicrously in an interview that the pledge is tantamount to a “hazing” ritual.

“To become a Canadian citizen, I am made to utter phrases which are silly and ridiculous and offensive,” he said. “I don't want to be there.” To become a Canadian citizen one is required to swear to be “faithful and bear true allegiance to Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, her heirs and successors.” Nobody is making him pledge allegiance. He wants to be a Canadian – this is part of the commitment one makes in order to gain citizenship. You don’t want to do it – don’t be there.

Ontario's top court said the Queen remains Canada's head of state and the oath was a “symbolic commitment to be governed as a democratic constitutional monarchy unless and until democratically changed.” The court also found that all citizens have the right to espouse anti-monarchist views and new Canadians could “publicly disavow what they consider to be the message conveyed by the oath.” Bar-Natan said he would follow the court's advice.

“I will be following precisely what the judges of the Appeal Court effectively suggested,” Bar-Natan said. “I am going to tell the citizenship judge, 'I hereby completely disavow it'.” To that end, he has prepared a second letter - copied like the first to the immigration minister and attorney general - that he plans to give the judge immediately after the ceremony formally reneging on the part of the pledge that refers to the Queen. “I find it regrettable that I have to do this; I have done my best to avoid it,” he writes, according to a draft of the letter seen by The Canadian Press.

Bar-Natan has also set up a website “as a service to others” to allow other new Canadians to publicly disavow their pledge to the Queen. Is the court actually saying a new citizen can take the oath and then immediately recant it? That makes no sense, especially if they are forewarned that the oath taker is in fact lying when they take the oath. Is this what we want in a new citizen? It really does not matter what specifically Bar-Natan finds offensive or repulsive. It’s the fact that he is willing to swear a solemn oath knowing that he is swearing to something he has no intention of living up to. Not many oaths are more serious than allegiance to your country and the laws of that country. What will he next find in Canada that offends his sensibilities and with which he will refuse to comply?

And, why does he want citizenship in this country that makes prospective citizens “utter phrases which are silly and ridiculous and offensive?” Why not return to your own country, or to some other, where ‘repulsive’ oaths are not required? Why live in Canada? Why become a Canadian? An oath of allegiance to the Queen is part of the citizenship law of this land. If a wannabe citizen advises the authorities in advance that he will recant that oath as soon as he makes it – he should not be permitted to take the oath at all. Bar-Natan has essentially told the authorities that he will lie to be allowed to become a Canadian citizen. So while his principles permit a lie under oath to beat the system, they do not permit him to continue with that sworn promise once he has achieved what he wants - Canadian citizenship, and presumably, a Canadian passport. If Canada lets him do as he wishes there is something drastically wrong with the system. Millions of people in the world today would give anything to be a Canadian citizen. Why on earth do we need this one who has problems with our system and wants to change it before he is even a part of it. The oath you take to become a citizen is part of a process – you cannot pick and choose to which parts of it you will or will not adhere. With the global situation as it is today, how many countries would permit migrants, immigrants or prospective citizens who admit upfront that they will lie under oath to enter that country, to actually enter the country or become citizens? Bar-Natan has told us who he is. He has told us he is a man who is prepared to swear to anything to achieve his own desires. This is not about the Queen, it is about Canadian Heritage, it is about tradition, it is about symbols, it is about the law of the land, it is about honour, integrity and principle. Canada does not need the likes of Bar-Natan whose word means nothing. A man who is willing to take an oath and lie. In a witness box this would be perjury. He has made clear his intentions. Under no circumstances should he be permitted Canadian citizenship. And should the authorities permit it, and should he recant, Canada too, should recant and void his citizenship immediately. Canada is a nation of immigrants. Citizenship is a privilege. There is nothing to prevent us being proud of our original roots and heritage while at the same time respecting and espousing the culture and heritage of our chosen country. Not to do that is repulsive!