Canadians in Trouble Abroad: Citizenship, Personal Security, and North American Regionalization

Abstract

This article concerns itself with what happens to the universal/particular character of citizenship in the context of North American regionalization. It takes as a starting point several incidents where Canadian citizens have called on their government to help them through crisis situations abroad, and then taken it to task for not helping enough. The cases analysed involve Canadian tourists in Mexico who died violently and whose families have used the media to pressure the Canadian government to obtain justice from Mexico. Mass calls for help following natural disasters and war, and the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen “rendered” by the United States to Syria where he was tortured, are also considered to conceptualize “citizens in trouble abroad” claims. The article finds that such claims reinforce a Canadian sense of citizenship where political identity remains rooted firmly with(in) the nation‐state, despite the country's engagement in a deep regionalization project. Maher Arar is a Canadian citizen.1