Welcome to yet another controversial topic which asks for the thoughts of you – vocal and opinionated smarties! 

There is something that has been happening in our province that has been stirring up a lot of hullabaloo. Did I say stirring, I meant crying! You are probably wondering, what! Ever heard of ‘birth tourism?’ Well birth tourism is when women travel to another country so that they can give birth to their baby.                                           

 Why do people do this, you ask? If you are from a country that is perhaps less socio-economically developed (remember, we don’t use words like First World or Third World anymore!), why not have your child born in a country that will give them better living conditions? In fact, this child will get free public schooling, healthcare, other aid and eventually be able to sponsor their parents. Sounds good, right? Well, this is what some people are starting to think and are travelling to countries, especially like: Hong Kong, the United States and Canada (top three for birth tourism).                                                          

Why are these countries such hot-spots? Well nations like the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Tanzania and Fiji offer unconditional birthright citizenship. This means that if you are born in one of the above countries, you are now a citizen of that country.                                                                                               

To prevent birth tourism, countries like South Africa, New Zealand, France, Germany and the United Kingdom all have birthright citizenship with restrictions – that is, one parent must be a citizen of that country.  Interestingly, India is one of the only nations that does not have birthright citizenship because of its large population.                                                                                                                                                                      

Now think about it for a second. You know that your child could have a successful life if he/she/they were Canadian, wouldn’t you want to help your child in any way you could? What happens if schooling costs lots of money in your home country and you would not be able to pay for your child’s education? But let’s also think about people who are trying to immigrate to Canada and have to wait so long to be reunited with their family. They have to go through lots of detailed paperwork and scans? How is it fair to them?

Take a read of this article:

https://globalnews.ca/news/4111024/birth-tourism-richmond-petition/

So of course, it is time for you to weigh in. What are your thoughts about this issue? Do you agree or disagree with birth tourism, and why? Do you think that it is a big deal or is the media / government making us feel that it is? Please provide detailed responses of 15-20 sentences.