Should Canada have oaths of allegiance?

Lovett, Adam (2023) Should Canada have oaths of allegiance? Canadian Foreign Policy Journal. ISSN 1192-6422

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Abstract

The Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration has recently proposed to make in-person citizenship ceremonies optional. These ceremonies are oaths of allegiances: naturalizing citizens swear loyalty to King Charles and obedience to the laws of Canada. The Department of Citizenship and Immigration proposes to allow naturalizing citizens to take these oaths by checking a box online rather than by taking part in an in-person ceremony. In this commentary, I argue that Canada should go much further. It should stop forcing naturalizing immigrants to swear oaths of allegiance altogether. Such oaths create an unjust inequality between naturalized and natural-born citizens: they mean the former have much weightier political obligations than the latter.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects:	J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration J Political Science
Date Deposited:	19 May 2023 15:57
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 17:35
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/119223

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