Oath of Citizenship (Canada)

This new format maintained the traditional assertion of allegiance to the monarch, but also inserted the name of the country three times in a way consistent with Canada's status as a constitutional monarchy—i.e., in a monarchy the state is personified, not treated as an abstraction or a corporation.

[7][8][9] The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued in 2015 a series of "calls to action", one of which proposed revising the Oath of Citizenship to: "I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to (His or Her) Majesty (King or Queen) (Regnal name and numeral), (King or Queen) of Canada, (His or Her) Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada, including Treaties with Indigenous Peoples, and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen.

"[10] Responding to Call to Action 94, the Government passed Bill C-8,[11] which received Royal Assent on June 21, 2021 and updated the Oath to include Indigenous Peoples.

[9][12] Its current form is as follows: I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of Canada, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada, including the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.

[13]The equally valid French language version of the oath of citizenship is as follows: Je jure fidélité et sincère allégeance à Sa Majesté le Roi Charles Trois, Roi du Canada, à ses héritiers et successeurs et je jure d’observer fidèlement les lois du Canada, y compris la Constitution, qui reconnaît et confirme les droits — ancestraux ou issus de traités —des Premières Nations, des Inuits et des Métis, et de remplir loyalement mes obligations de citoyen canadien.

[13]Or, the French affirmation: J’affirme solennellement que je serai fidèle et porterai sincère allégeance à Sa Majesté le Roi Charles Trois, Roi du Canada, à ses héritiers et successeurs, que j’observerai fidèlement les lois du Canada, y compris la Constitution, qui reconnaît et confirme les droits — ancestraux ou issus de traités — des Premières Nations, des Inuits et des Métis, et que je remplirai loyalement mes obligations de citoyen canadien[13]The Oath of Citizenship must be recited by all citizenship applicants in Canada in order to obtain citizenship,[14] save for those under the age of 14 and,[15][16] at the discretion of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, those who are prevented from understanding the significance of taking the oath due to mental disabilities.

[20] It has been stated by Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, of the Islamic Institute of Toronto, that Muslims may take the Oath of Citizenship "as long as you are clear in your mind that you are doing so without contravening the sovereignty of Allah" and that reciting it should not be viewed as a form of shirk.

Sergio Marchi, then minister of Citizenship and Immigration, proposed a further step of creating a new "declaration" of citizenship, and commissioned ten Canadian writers to compose a pledge, with the explicit instruction not to refer to the monarch of Canada; the suggested declaration decided on was: I am a citizen of Canada, and I make this commitment: to uphold our laws and freedoms; to respect our people in their diversity; to work for our common well-being; and to safeguard and honour this ancient northern land.

It would strengthen the political argument for abolishing the monarchy on the death of Queen Elizabeth; and it would test monarchist support by seeing how many Canadians even notice or holler.

"[32] Bill C-63, the proposed Citizenship of Canada Act, was put before parliament in 1999; in it was a variant on the present Oath of Citizenship: In French, this would be: Member of Parliament John H. Bryden put forward an amendment that would remove the sovereign from the oath altogether: In pledging allegiance to Canada, I take my place among Canadians, a people united by God whose sacred trust is to uphold these five principles: equality of opportunity, freedom of speech, democracy, basic human rights, and the rule of law.

Subsequent Bills C-16 (2000) and C-18 (2002) also proposed the same changes to the Oath of Citizenship; the former also died on the Order Paper due to the prorogation of parliament, while the latter never made it past second reading in the House of Commons.

[32] Addressing this, both Bills C-16 and C-18 contained a clause stating: "removing the words 'Her Heirs and Successors' does not imply that pledging allegiance to the... Crown ends with the death of the current Queen.

Section 35 of the Interpretation Act states that, in every enactment, the phrases 'Her Majesty', 'the Queen', 'the King', or 'the Crown' mean the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories, and Head of the Commonwealth.

The intention of the report's recommendations, penned by David Collacott, was to counter the support immigrants received from official multiculturalism to place the devotions and hostilities of their homeland before their duty to Canada.

With the support of his own law firm and CCR, Roach launched a number of suits against the Crown, beginning in 1994, when he argued to the federal court that being forced to take the oath was a violation of clauses 2(b), 2(d), and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

[40] In 2007, Roach, along with three others[41]—Michael McAteer, an Irish immigrant with "republican heritage"; Ashok Charles, an Indo-Canadian professional photographer; and Howard Gomberg, a professional actor and performer from the United States—filed a class action lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, claiming that the requirement to take the Oath of Citizenship not only violated the aforementioned sections of the charter, but also clause 2(a), that relating to freedom of conscience.

[62] In 2014, Zunera Ishaq, a Toronto resident who wears a niqāb, challenged the regulation that was implemented in 2011 by then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney requiring those taking the oath to do so without any face covering.

[67] Ishaq recited the oath privately before a female citizenship judge and became a Canadian citizen on 9 October 2015,[69] though the government pressed the issue to the supreme court.