The Canadian Connection

There must be something about the Canadian immigration service, or social service, that makes getting there legally from other countries easier than getting to the United States - or Uruguay, even.

Once ensconced up North, it appears the easiest path to becoming a US naturalized citizen is to assume some deceased Canadian's identity and cross the border. A few years later and - Boom - citizen!

This seems to be the path chosen by those recently unveiled as 'Russian Spies' masquerading as Canadian-cum-Americans.

This is embarrassing on multiple levels: It puts red on our faces since we didn't catch on for a long time. It makes the Russians look bad for spying on their erstwhile allies - Us. And it makes the Canadians look sorely-used and a bit pathetic.

There is a solution, at least in part. Test everyone claiming to be from Canada, and who are seeking US permanent residency or citizenship, on their facility with the French language. Those who score well and claim to hail from anywhere other than Quebec are spies. If they score well and are from Quebec, they are probably spies too. No native French-speaking Quebecois wants to leave Quebec - especially not to become a US citizen.

You might say 'Hold on a minute! This will exclude anyone who speaks French well from immigrating from Canada to the US.'

That may be. C'est la Vie!