Canada: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS: Reyankification

Many of the 70,000-odd U.S. citizens living in Canada have voted in recent Canadian elections, and have thus automatically lost their U.S. citizenship. Most did so through 1) ignorance of the law, and 2) inefficiency of Canadian election officials. (Technically, only “British subjects” may vote in Canada, but seldom is any attempt made to check that qualification.) Said one expatriate: “We had to pay taxes so we figured we could just go ahead and vote.”

Last week the U.S. Consulate in Toronto announced that expatriated Americans may regain their lost citizenship simply by applying to any U.S. diplomatic officer in Canada before next Aug. 7. For the repatriation process, Ottawa’s Le Droit coined the word-of-the-week: “reyankification.”