The Queen: Why It Took Us So Long to Become Canadian..

Because you have to swear allegiance to the Queen in order to become Canadian, we dragged our feet for 17 years.  In the end we decided that it was okay to vow to uphold her laws, but for a long time the idea of agreeing to become the subject of a monarch rankled. 

So I'm very glad to see that three stalwart non-citizens are brining the matter to court.  Michael  McAteer,Simone Topey, and Dror Bar-Natan are taking up the torch left when Charles Roach died in 2005 after fighting for nearly 20 years to get the matter considered by Canadian courts. 

The CBC quotes the trio:

" McAteer, 79, a retired journalist who immigrated almost 50 years ago, says his father was persecuted in Ireland for supporting Irish independence.

"Taking an oath of allegiance to a hereditary monarch who lives abroad would violate my conscience, be a betrayal of my republican heritage, and impede my activities in support of ending the monarchy in Canada," McAteer says in his affidavit.

"Topey, who was born in Jamaica in 1966 and came to Canada in 1978, says swearing allegiance to the Queen — whom Rastafarians regard as the "head of Babylon" — would violate her deeply-held beliefs.

"Bar-Natan, 47, an Israeli math professor who came to Canada in 2002, maintains the Queen is a symbol of entrenched privilege and taking an oath to her would be "repulsive."
"It's not that I believe in total egalitarianism," Bar-Natan said in an interview.
"On the other hand, having royalty is a bit much."

It's about time, if you ask me.