Globalization and citizenship

In an increasingly interconnected world, where more and more Canadians have more than one passport, multiple connections to the world and shifting allegiances and identities, only one thing is clear: The questions will remain long after the last Canadian has boarded a boat in the port of Beirut.

So ends Graham Fraser's piece in the Star on the Canadian passport titled "The ticket to get back home." It is the latest of many articles and editorials written in recent weeks on the meaning of citizenship and the rights, obligations and benefits it entails or ought to entail. The trigger has been the ongoing war in the Middle East (yes, I think we can call it a war without being overly dramatic) and the subsequent evacuation of thousands of foreigners - Canadians, Americans, Europeans and others - from Lebanon. Pictures of shiploads of people leaving Beirut and arriving 'back home' in Canada have been the feature in newspapers and TV broadcasts.

Yes, I put the words "back home" in quotation marks, because as some commentators in the media have pointed out, a great number of Canadian citizens evacuated from Lebanon were of Lebanese origin who resided for part or most of the year in Lebanon, many having gone back there permanently after getting their Canadian citizenship. There has been some amount of cynicism, hints that such people are conveniently taking advantage of Canada's generosity in troubled times. The alternate view goes: a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. Period.

So, what does citizenship mean in a globalized world? What obligations does a state have to its citizens abroad, who may also be nationals of other countries? What does it mean to have multiple loyalties, especially when they may conflict? We see how an Israeli soldier killed in this conflict was also a Canadian citizen, as were seven Lebanese people killed in Lebanon by Israeli bombing.

As Graham Fraser says, the questions will remain long after the last Canadian has left Lebanon.


Update, July 31, 5:30 pm: Today's Globe and Mail has an op-ed "Conflicted over citizenship" by historian J. L. Granatstein (of the Council for Canadian Security in the 21st Century) asking similar questions.