citizenship update not

Several wmtc readers in various venues have asked about our citizenship applications. There's been no word yet.

The timeline so far is very brief. We applied in November 2008, the earliest date we were both eligible. In March 2009 we received notification that our application is in the queue. That form letter said processing time is 8-12 months. We're now at 12 months.

Here's something I wrote last summer:

I'd like to think the delay is down to an understaffed CIC and a slow-moving bureaucracy, rather than something more sinister. (CIC, what do you think??)

In the 1980s, many of my activist friends - who were all older than me - were paranoid about being spied on, even though nothing we were doing was even marginally illegal. They wouldn't talk our activities on the phone, and were always suspicious when a new person joined the group. My attitude was: Don't flatter yourself, we're not that important. Not that I knew we weren't being spied on. I just chose to proceed without fear, and not catch their paranoia, even if it might be justified.

Those friends had lived through the 1960s and early 70s, and they had seen ample proof that the US government did spy on activists - regularly and for no reason. And now I've lived through the early 21st Century, and I know it doesn't matter if my activism is legal or not. The government might take an interest anyway. No government can be considered free of that possibility.

It follows, then, that some wmtc readers have wondered if my writing critically about the Harper government, especially about Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney, could reduce our chances of getting citizenship, or at least delay the process. Especially since we know the CIC does read this blog. (Remember, we have proof of that.)

I'd certainly like to think that's not the case. I've done nothing illegal. In fact, I might be considered a model citizen, as I'm actively engaged in society. In my work on behalf of US war resisters in Canada, I stand beside the mainstream of Canadian society, including many Members of Parliament. But of course, I do actively oppose the current Government.

Is there something going on? We really don't know. Maybe our citizenship applications are taking the slow route through CIC channels because of my outspoken opposition to the head of that ministry. Or maybe "don't flatter yourself" is a more appropriate thought.

When the subject of Jason Kenney comes up, Campaign friends will joke, "How's that citizenship application coming, Laura?" The longer the delay, the more inclined I am to think our application is on the bottom of a pile somewhere.

But waiting isn't stressful; we're not impatient. It's not like 2004 and 2005, when we were still in living in New York, waiting to begin the next phase of our lives. I'm more anxious to complete grad school and begin my new career than I am about the citizenship application.

However long it takes, it takes.