Is A Canadian Passport Worth Anything?

As someone who would like to do more traveling in the future, I am very concerned about the ability of my own country to take a simple interest in my case, yet alone protect me, should I run into trouble abroad.  I already blogged about this, and I am appalled to have to do it again.

Don't get me wrong, Canadian Citizenship is a very valuable concept when traveling: but a Canadian Passport? Hmm, not so much.

My impression based on my limited experience is that people do like us. At worst, they are indifferent. There is not a lot of hate out there for us Canucks.

But again, I see that my government is failing another Canadian abroad

Hossein Derakhshan is a  fellow Canadian citizen. Just like me he holds a Canadian passport. I have a soft spot for him because he introduced blogging to Iran by creating the ability to blog in Farsi. In my opinion, he did a great thing for his people, and he is a blogger that can change the world. He is a great Canadian.

He is challenging oppression, and standing up for values of free speech and democracy. Canadian values. He has also been languishing in a prison in Iran for over a year.

A Facebook Group has been created on his behalf. He is a fellow human being, and also a fellow Canadian. He deserves all the rights and support that are supposed to come with the proud possession of a Canadian passport, but it seems he may become yet another tragic example of the compliant nature of our current regime as it deals with matters abroad.

Many of the people that I mentioned in my previous post are controversial. Many are completely innocent travelers. Each has met with the same incomprehensible lack of support.

What concerns me most is the possibility that our Foreign Affairs department is either indifferent or incompetent . Or both. Or worse.

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