Tory MP Presents Petition in House to ‘Save the Canadian Passport’

The new Canadian passport is unveiled at an event at the Ottawa International Airport on May 10, 2023. Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis has presented a petition “to save the Canadian passport” in the House of Commons, urging the federal government not to “erase” historical images such as the Vimy Ridge Memorial and Terry Fox from Canada’s redesigned passport.

Mr. Genuis said in his address on Sept. 19 that the petition “opposes the changes that the government has made to the Canadian passport.”

“Petitioners call upon the government to reverse their plans to erase these symbols of national heritage and identity from the Canadian passport,” he said.

The new passport design, which was unveiled in May, sparked controversy for swapping heritage images like Vimy Ridge and the Fathers of Confederation for more generic natural images such as a squirrel eating a nut and a boy jumping into a lake.

The Royal Canadian Legion has taken umbrage with the erasure of Vimy Ridge, one of Canada’s greatest military feats, from the passport.

“We remain disappointed by the original decision to remove an image that signifies the sacrifices made for the very sort of freedom the passport provides,” the Royal Canadian Legion said in a previous statement to The Epoch Times.

“The Vimy Memorial was a fundamental image, representing a defining moment for Canada. We would welcome a decision to retain significant military heritage images, such as the Vimy Memorial, as part of a potential revision of the new passport imagery.”

Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada (IRCC) Minister Marc Miller said on Sept. 18 that veterans weren’t consulted in the decision to replace historical images in the planning of the new passport.

Mr. Miller told the House of Commons on Sept. 18 that based on survey results, “a new passport theme, ‘the four seasons in Canada,’ was proposed and subsequently approved by the minister of IRCC.”

The new Canadian passport was announced on May 10 by then-IRCC minister Sean Fraser. The new passport will include an updated cover design of Canada’s maple leaf.

In 2019, the government of Canada signed a 14-year contract with the Canadian Bank Note Company to “design, develop and deploy the next generation of Canadian passports and travel documents,” the federal government’s announcement said.

The government’s updated design began circulating on June 18, but because the necessary apparatus isn’t yet fully installed, passports with the updated designs won’t be issued until spring 2024.