Bureaucracy keeps Canadian woman stateless

A Florida-born Canadian woman is in a Catch-22 citizenship dilemma eight years after losing a wallet containing the only proof she's Canadian.

Elizabeth Shmuir was born prematurely in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 32 years ago to a vacationing mother who'd been told by a doctor she wasn't pregnant, The Expositor, a Brantford, Ontario, newspaper reported.

Shmuir later grew up in the southern Ontario town and had a provincial drivers license, a provincial healthcare card and a federal Social Insurance card, she said. She's been able to replace all of the identification except the crucial piece that verified she was a Canadian born abroad, the report said.

I've given (the authorities) as much information as I could but they ask questions like 'What time of day did you enter Canada? What airline were you on? What was the name of the immigration officer?' and I can't answer those, she told The Expositor.

Federal immigration officials say there is no record of her entering the country as a newborn, the newspaper said. They encouraged Shmuir to get an immigration lawyer, which she said she can't afford, the report said.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International