I am willing to draw a line in the sand

I never fail to be amazed at the people who come to this country but fail to grasp the basic premises of our system of our governance. Case in point; this story from the National Post.

TORONTO - The government's practice of requiring new Canadian citizens to swear an oath to an "offshore queen," even if they do it with just "a wink and a nod," may well violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, an Ontario judge said yesterday.
In a hearing about a potential class-action lawsuit brought by a Toronto criminal lawyer, the government asked Mr. Justice Edward Belobaba to dismiss the case as frivolous and doomed to fail. But the judge instead grilled the government lawyer, and called the case "a fascinating issue, to say the least," with a clear cause of action and potential for success.

Charles Roach, 73, who was born a British subject in Trinidad and Tobago and is now a permanent Canadian resident, said in an interview that he expects his case will survive until September, when he can apply to certify it as a class action. He argues that the mandatory oath violates the Charter's freedom of conscience provision.

"I feel that we [blacks] were colonized as a people by the British throne, and we were enslaved as a people by the British throne and, to me, taking an oath to the monarch of Great Britain, without any disrespect to the Queen herself as a person, is like asking a Holocaust survivor to take an oath to a descendant of Hitler," he said. Judge Belobaba reserved his decision yesterday.

It’s not like Canadians have been hiding the role of Queen Elizabeth II plays in our country or the role the “crown” plays in our system of government. If Roach really feels the republican style of governance was the best of all possible forms of governance; why didn’t he stay in his native land or immigrate to the United States? If his joining this country demands that we remake our style of governance to accommodate his particular worldviews why do we need him to join our ranks?