Subject or citizen?
Citizenship is a gift from God that we can use to improve our communities.
Although I am a native of the United States, it is possible that I was born a British subject through my late father. At the time Dad was born, his native island of Cyprus was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom. Cyprus had been ceded to Britain by the Ottoman sultan in 1878 as part of the settlement of the previous year’s Russo-Turkish war. Britain annexed the island outright in 1914 and all residents, including my grandparents, were henceforth British subjects.
Canada changes status
The notion of being a subject sounds archaic to our ears. If I am the subject of a particular monarch, I am bound by personal – almost feudal – ties to him or her. And if that’s the case, my responsibilities would seem to begin and end with obedience to the ruler’s will. Prior to 1947, Canadians were not even citizens of their own country; they were merely British subjects, a status shared with those born not only in the United Kingdom, but in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and many other territories of the former Empire.
But one by one, beginning with Canada, each of these Commonwealth realms established its own citizenship. The UK enacted its citizenship law in 1949, setting up several categories of citizens, each of which had varying rights of residence within the country. Canadians remained British subjects until 1977 when Ottawa decided to end this ambiguous dual status.
Active citizenship
Being a citizen is different from being a mere subject of a ruler. Citizenship has connotations of active membership. It means that we take a measure of responsibility for the welfare of our political communities, responding when called to contribute and often going beyond that to take the initiative, along with our fellow citizens, when we sense the need.
Moreover, citizenship is a layered phenomenon. We are at once citizens of a nation, of a province, of a town or city, and even of a local neighbourhood. No single one of these can claim the whole of our political allegiance. This reality is especially evident in a federal system such as Canada or the United States.
Daily contributions
Finally, although citizenship by no means exhausts who we are as persons created in God’s image, all of our activities in the many spheres of life, in some fashion, enhance our political communities. Simply by maintaining schools, amateur sport teams, labour unions, professional associations and voluntary choral societies, we make an indirect but important contribution to our polities. A nation whose people are active in multiple efforts to improve their communities is better suited to democratic institutions than one where they passively await the favours of a ruler of whom they are mere subjects. Citizenship in such a participatory nation is thus a precious gift for which we can rightly thank God.
