A 16-year-old professional athlete was denied Canadian citizenship
The girl wanted to represent the country at the Olympics.
A 16-year-old surf prodigy Erin Brooks has been denied Canadian citizenship. The girl was born in Texas, USA, and her father has dual American-Canadian citizenship — he was born and raised in Montreal. The family hoped that this was enough to obtain documents, but the IRCC decided otherwise.
The story was publicized because of the athlete's intentions: she wanted to represent Canada at the Olympic Games in 2024 in Paris. Previously, the girl had already won a silver medal at the World Surfing Games in El Salvador in June. Brooks was already unable to go to the Pan American Games in Chile last week due to a delay in her paperwork, and now her last chance to qualify for the Olympics is in Puerto Rico in February.
At the Olympic Surfing Games, each country can be represented by a maximum of two athletes — regardless of gender.
Under Canadian immigration law, the second generation born abroad is no longer unconditionally eligible for a Canadian passport. This was finally outlined by amendments back in 2009. A letter from the ministry, obtained by Brooks, states the following:
"The application is refused on the basis that the applicant is not stateless, has not experienced special or unusual hardship or provided services of an exceptional value to Canada which warrants a discretionary grant of Canadian citizenship."
The surfer's father, Jeff Brooks, plans to appeal the decision in Federal Court.
The full article is only available to members of the Immigrant.Today community. Log in to your account to read it for free.
