Deepan Budlakoti is a Canadian ordered by the federal government to be deported
to India due to his convictions. Budlakoti had an extensive criminal record,
which includes trying to sell a gun to an Ottawa undercover cop and hundreds of
break-ins. However, Budlakoti was born and raised in Canada and his parents
have been Canadian citizens for decades. According to Canadian law, anyone born
on Canadian soil is entitled to birthright citizenship except if the parents
are foreign government representatives,
THE RIGHT TO
CITIZENSHIP
“Persons who are
citizens
(1) Subject to this Act, a person is a citizen if
(a) the person was born in Canada after February 14, 1977;
Not applicable to children
of foreign diplomats, etc.
(2) Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply to a person if, at the
time of his birth, neither of his parents was a citizen or lawfully admitted to
Canada for permanent residence and either of his parents was
(a) a diplomatic or consular officer or other representative
or employee in Canada of a foreign government;
(b) an employee in the service of a person referred to in
paragraph (a)”
His parents left the Indian High
Commissioner in June, and he was born in October. This should mean that
Budlakoti qualifies as a Canadian. Despite this fact, the government did not
recognize him as a Canadian; stating his passport was issued in error, and has
tried to deport him to his parents’ home country of India.
The
federal government’s decision to strip away Budlakoti’s passport was
unjustified. Budlakoti does not have another citizenship, in which case, taking
away his Canadian citizenship will render him stateless. According to Article
15 of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality
nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Canada is breaking an international human rights code. If Canada
can deport a citizen by reclaiming their citizenship, what prevents them from
expulsing other Canadians that don’t agree with the government? Alternatively,
what about deporting all criminals? In
conclusion, Budlakoti lived in Canada all his life and paid taxes all his life. He should be treated as any other Canadian
and dealt with the same punishment for his convictions. The federal
government’s verdict was illogical and unjustified.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/15/i-cant-be-stateless-born-in-canada-criminal-fighting-deportation-after-ottawa-decides-citizenship-not-valid/
No comments:
Post a Comment