What Does “Citizenship” Mean to You?
The first time I visited my birth country after a decade abroad, I caught myself wondering if I should delete the comments I made on social media criticizing the government and get a burner phone, just in case.
Then I realized—a citizen should never feel this way entering their country.
I’ve been thinking about my identity as a naturalized Canadian citizen—why I chose to naturalize and why I was eager to give up my birth citizenship rather than keeping both.
I’m choosing not to disclose my birth citizenship, because that’s not important here: this discussion is less about specific citizenships but more about what “citizenship” means to me. That said, there’s another reason, which I will get to promptly. (You’re welcome to make a guess, but I just don’t want it to be on the record.)
Safety, protection and freedom
It’s my belief that if you are a citizen of a country, you should feel protected and safe. You should be able to feel that you can count on your country, that your country has your back. Note that I’m not talking about any specific policies or decisions the incumbent government may have made, as I’m sure no citizen fully agrees with every action of their government—I’m talking about not feeling like your government is out to get you if you don’t do as it pleases.
At the very least, you should have a protected right to freedom of expression (e.g., as defined in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) and not feel scared to speak freely about your government.
My birth citizenship never gave me these. Even now, when my birth citizenship is no longer recognized by my birth country because I obtained another nationality, I’m still afraid of publicly speaking critically of that country (hence my discretion). My family’s still in that country and I do plan to visit in the future and not get detained at the border.
If I express such concerns to any average citizens in that country, they would probably laugh their ass off. And true, I’m most likely overthinking and worrying too much, but that’s the thing—I believe that the citizens of a country shouldn’t even have this worry or fear to begin with. As an example, I could never fathom that I would get into any trouble just because I criticize the Canadian government.
If you think I’m being an idealist, take a look at how the Merriam-Webster concisely defines the word, “citizen”:
a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it (emphasis added)
Many, depending which country they are a citizen of, may not realize your government is actually supposed to protect you, but it’s not a new concept at all.
The first part of this definition leads to my next point—
Would you help your country?
How many people, when they obtain citizenship to a new country, only think about the benefits of the new citizenship they are entitled to, but not the new duties and responsibilities they now have as a citizen?
I totally agree with Merriam-Webster’s definition that citizenship is a mutual relationship between the citizen and the country. Yes, your country should protect you, but I believe you should also come to your country’s aid when circumstances arise.
Since the start of 2025, I feel like the world has been destabilizing like never before—right wing politics and authoritarianism are rising, AI has become more problematic as it quickly advances, and, more specifically to me, Canada’s sovereignty has been under threat.
I remember thinking, if World War III breaks out, would I want to fight for Canada or for my birth country?
Without a doubt, the answer was Canada—I knew it before I even asked myself that question.
That was when I realized that my desire to change my citizenship was more than just a matter of affiliation, of identity, of benefits or of convenience. It’s about siding with a country whose morals and values align with my own; it’s about being on the side I want to be on if the world went down.
If you have never reflected on your citizenship before, hopefully this post spurs you into thinking about something that you may have taken for granted or never thought twice about (especially if your citizenship is from birth)!
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