The Most Unique Way to Immigrate to Canada

Andrew Duffy of the Ottawa Citizen writes today about the most unusual way I've seen to immigrate to Canada.

Mile-high baby granted Canadian citizenship

Andrew Duffy, Canwest News Service Published: Wednesday, January 07, 2009

OTTAWA -- Canada has its first mile-high baby: Ottawa has granted citizenship to Sasha, the child born to a Ugandan woman on an international flight over Canada.

The 2.2-kilogram baby was delivered on a crowded Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Boston on New Year's Eve. The mother, who was 8 1/2-months pregnant when she boarded, went into labour about six hours into the eight-hour flight and delivered the child as the plane crossed through Canadian airspace.

Alykhan Velshi, communications director for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, said that under the law, almost anyone born here is a Canadian citizen.

That general rule, he said, has select exceptions, one of which means that children born to foreign diplomats in this country are not Canadian citizens.

But it is the government's opinion, she said, that the rule does apply to someone born in an airplane over Canada.

"Our government believes that Canadian territory -- and, as a result, the full reach of Canadian sovereignty -- extends to our airspace," Velshi said. "This means that a child born in Canadian airspace is a Canadian citizen."

U.S. officials deemed the baby a Canadian when the plane landed at Boston's Logan International Airport at 10:30 a.m. ET, in order to speed her passage through customs. The woman and her new baby were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, and later released.

But Canadian officials were, at first, uncertain as to whether the child was eligible for citizenship. Since there was no known precedent in Canada, federal immigration lawyers were asked to review the case.

Baby Sasha can now obtain proof of her citizenship, Velshi said, by applying to Citizenship and Immigration Canada with a birth certificate and other identification.

The name of Baby Sasha's mother has not been released by the airline. It's not clear why she decided to fly so late in her pregnancy.

Baby Sasha joined Northwest Airlines Flight 59 in dramatic fashion.

An appeal was made on the Boeing 757's public address system for help with a medical emergency and two doctors - a radiology oncologist from Minneapolis, Dr. Natarajan Raman, and Dr. Paresh Thakker, a family physician from Massachusetts - came forward, according to accounts in U.S. papers.

The doctors laid the woman across a row of seats in coach class; a blanket was rigged around the seats to create a makeshift delivery room. Thakker told the pilot that it was too late for an emergency landing since the baby had already crowned and was on its way.

Sasha was born without complications about 10 minutes later, at 9 a.m., as the flight passed over Canada's East Coast. The entire plane erupted in applause when the baby was handed to her relieved mother.

Delta Air Lines, which owns Northwest, does not impose travel restrictions on pregnant women, but it does recommend that women in their final month of pregnancy consult a doctor before flying.

Ottawa Citizen