The Canadian government reports that it has been given assurances by the US Ambassador to Canada, Paul Cellucci, that citizens of Canada will not be subject to increased security requirements, regardless of where they were born. Last week Canada issued a travel warning to citizens of Canada who were born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, advising them to carefully consider any attempt to enter the US.
While citizens of Canada will not be subject to the special registration system, rules for entry to the US for many landed immigrants will be changing. Under a new policy, which is to take effect on December 16, landed immigrants who hold citizenship in any country that is a member of the British Commonwealth other than Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom will be required to have a visa.
The warning was just another sign of how tense relations between the US and Canada have become since September 11th. For months, the Canadian government has been seeking to interview a Canadian citizen detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and just a few weeks ago the US deported a Canadian citizen born in Syria to Syria, where he has since been arrested.
There are reports that a similar policy of considering only citizenship and not country of birth may be extended to citizens of Israel who were not born there.
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