- definition
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1. Philosophical:
“The concept of citizenship is composed of three main elements or dimensions (Cohen 1999; Kymlicka and Norman 2000; Carens 2000). The first is citizenship as legal status, defined by civil, political and social rights. Here, the citizen is the legal person free to act according to the law and having the right to claim the law’s protection. It need not mean that the citizen takes part in the law’s formulation, nor does it require that rights be uniform between citizens. The second considers citizens specifically as political agents, actively participating in a society’s political institutions. The third refers to citizenship as membership in a political community that furnishes a distinct source of identity” (Leydet 1).
2. Based in Society:
“Legal and political status: In its simplest meaning, citizenship can be defined as membership in a country, community or group. It allows privileges like voting and the ability to hold public office but it also comes with obligations like paying taxes and following the law.
Involvement in the community: Citizenship also means your relationship with the community in which you are a member. In other words, your behaviour and actions. It’s not just following the rights and behaviours laid down by the law, it also means adhering to the social and moral behaviour expected of a citizen” (Michaelis 1).
3. Based on a socio-political identity:
“This [citizenship] defines the relationship of the individual not to another individual (as in the case with the feudal, monarchical and tyrannical systems) or a group (as with nationhood), but essentially to the idea of the state” (Heater 2).
a. The concept of citizenship has had many paradigm shifts since it arose in ancient Greece, where citizenship was granted only to property owners. “The Romans initially used it as a privilege to be conferred upon or withheld from conquered peoples, but it was granted to all the empire’s free inhabitants in AD 212. The concept disappeared in Europe during the feudal era but was revived in the Renaissance. Citizenship may normally be gained by birth within a certain territory, descent from a parent who is a citizen, [or] marriage to a citizen” (Webster).
Jean Cohen argues that the notion of citizenship was originally conceived in the context of a Greek city-state, and was conceived in a very different context than it is used in today’s globalized world (Cohen 245). This difference in
“citizenship meant the reciprocal relationship of “rule and being ruled”. In contrast to this participatory model of citizenship, another polity, the Roman Empire, developed citizenship to be a form of legal status, with specific rights and responsibilities. Jean Cohen argues that in the nation-state, these two different meanings of citizenship have come together. However, this has been a specific historical development within a specific historical moment” (qtd in Yuval-Davis 58).
b. Citizenship is recognized as a national, but multi-layered concept. “One focus of the debate has been the extent to which citizenship needs to be seen as an individual relationship between the person and the State, as the liberal theory tends to see it or whether that relationships has to be seen as mediated by the (national) community, as republican and communal theorists claim in their different ways. Related to that debate is the extent to which citizenship needs to be seen as an abstract category of “the citizen” or as an embodied category, involving concrete people who are differently situated in terms of gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, state in the life cycle, etc. Feminists and anti-racists who have worked on the question of citizenship have tended to emphasize the latter and thus de-homogenised the notion of citizenship” (Yuval-Davis 58).
c. Citizenship in Canada is recognized as a right that is granted by the state. The organizing document that illustrates the provisions for becoming a Canadian citizen is the Canadian Citizenship Act. Based on the requirements set by the state, “When an application under section 5 or 5.1 or subsection 11(1) is approved, the Minister shall issue a certificate of citizenship to the applicant” (Part 4. 12. (2)). The Canadian State recognizes citizenship as a relationship that is made up of rights and responsibilities. Citizens of Canada are entitled to rights that non-citizens of the state are not. This includes mobility rights, Aboriginal people’s rights, and multiculturalism which are detailed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Citizenship and Immigration Canada).
d. In Canada, “There are three ways to get citizenship:
(1) Birth on Canadian soil (known by the Latin legal term jus soli, translating to “law of the soil”);
(2) Birth to a Canadian citizen who is abroad (jus sanguinis, or “law of the blood”) and;
(3) Naturalization, which is when a newcomer to Canada applies for and is granted Canadian citizenship.
In 2009, the government made it harder to pass Canadian citizenship by descent from parent to child (jus sanguinis). This year, Bill C-24 and its citizenship-stripping provisions targeted those who obtain citizenship by naturalization as well as dual citizens. Having weakened citizenship by naturalization and by descent, the government has also let it be known that citizenship by birth on Canadian soil (jus soli) will be next on its list” (Cheung 1).
- Clarkson, Adrienne. Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship by Adrienne Clarkson. CBC Massey Lectures Series. Anansi. Sept. 8 2014. Print.
- Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. “Challenging Misinformation: Canadian Citizenship Law Explained”. Accessed: 24 Oct. 2014. Available at: http://www.carl-acaadr.ca/challenging-misinformation
- Keung, Nicholas. “Lawyers Argue Law To Revoke Canadian Citizenship Is Unconstitutional”. The Star.Com. Published on Thu Oct 23 2014. Accessed: 25 Oct. 2014. Available at: <http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/23/lawyers_argue_law_to_strip_terrorists_of_citizenship_is_unconstitutional.html>
- Weil, Patrick. “Access To Citizenship: A Comparison Of Twenty-Five Nationality Laws” in Citizenship today: Global perspectives and practices. Brookings Institution Press. (2001): 17-35.
Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. “Challenging Misinformation: Canadian Citizenship Law Explained”. Accessed: 24 Oct. 2014.
The Citizenship Act. 1974-75-76, c. 108, s. 1. (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-29)
Cheung, Carmen. “Born Equal: Citizenship by Birth is Canada’s Valuable Legacy”. Posted on August 18, 2014. Accessed: 24 Oct. 2014
Available at: <https://bccla.org/2014/08/born-equal-citizenship-by-birth-is-who-we-are/>
Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship. Study Guide. 2014 Version. Available at: <http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pub/discover.pdf>
Clarkson, Adrienne. Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship by Adrienne Clarkson. CBC Massey Lectures Series. Anansi. Sept. 8 2014. Print.
Cohen, Jean. “Changing Paradigms of Citizenship and the Exclusiveness of the Demos.” International Sociology. 14.3 (1999): 245-68. Web. Accessed: 24 Oct. 2014
Heater, Derek. A Brief History of Citizenship. New York University Press. 2004. 1-152.
Leydet, Dominique. “Citizenship”. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition). Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Available at: <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/citizenship/>.
Merriam-Webster.com. “Citizenship.” Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014. Available at: Available at: <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citizenship>
Michaelis, Sarah. “What is Citizenship and What Does it Mean for my Kids?” TVO Parents. Published March 7, 2007. Accessed: 24 Oct. 2014. Available at: <http://tvoparents.tvo.org/article/what-citizenship-and-what-does-it-mean-my-kids>
Keung, Nicholas. “Lawyers argue law to revoke Canadian citizenship is unconstitutional Lawyers argue law to revoke Canadian citizenship is unconstitutional”. The Star.com. Published Oct 23 2014. Accessed: 25 Oct. 2014. Available at: <http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/23/lawyers_argue_law_to_strip_terrorists_of_citizenship_is_unconstitutional.html>
Weil, Patrick. “Access To Citizenship: A Comparison Of Twenty-Five Nationality Laws” in Citizenship today: Global perspectives and practices. Brookings Institution Press. (2001): 17-35.
Yuval-Davis, Nira. “Citizenship, Autochthony, And The Question Of Forced Migration”. Refugee Survey Quarterly. (2013) 32(2): 53-65.
a. Adriana Santamaria Crast v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)
Adriana Santamaria Crast v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration). 2007 FC 146, Canada: Federal Court. 7 February 2007. Accessed: 25 Oct. 2014. Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/48eb5d632.html
b. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. A069 (Ocean Lady Migrants)
Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. A069. 2014 FC 341, Canada: Federal Court. 8 April 2014. Accessed: 25 Oct. 2014. Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b686774.html
Naturalized;
Nationality;
Citizen; non-citizen
State; Nation-State
Identity; Belonging