April 2025
Ben Shragge

I received notice of my American citizenship interview around the time Donald Trump first threatened to annex Canada. As a Canadian residing in the US, I felt mixed emotions about my situation.

The first emotion was buyer’s remorse. I had filed paperwork, paid fees, and sat for interviews so I could live and work in the US. Now it seemed I could have avoided the hassle and become American just by staying in Canada. Why did I bother moving to the US when the US was going to move to me anyway?

But seriously, I had no grand plan to become an American when I arrived in the summer of 2015. I came and stayed for professional and romantic opportunities, not for lack of true patriot love. I was almost 30, single, underpaid, and eager to move forward with my life, even if that meant starting fresh in another country. Had an interview or a date gone differently, I would have happily remained in Canada. But they did not, and so I was willing to try my luck elsewhere. Now I have an American family (though my two children are also Canadian through me), so it only made sense to apply for citizenship.

I wouldn’t be in the US without NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement that also included a little-known work visa program. The logic behind the TN (Treaty National) visa was that if goods could now easily cross North America’s borders, skilled workers should be able to, as well. My occupation loosely fit under one of the professions deemed important back when the treaty was signed in 1992. And so I could apply for many more jobs than the three or so openings in Toronto that I had previously been resigned to chasing. An economy 13 times the size of Canada’s opened up to me.

On July 1, 2020, the Trump-brokered United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) came into effect, replacing NAFTA while keeping the TN visa program. That was exactly one month after I married my American wife and became a permanent resident, in fact and intention, of this country. I’m not about to defend every aspect of free trade and work visas, both of which have their flaws and abuses. Nonetheless, I’m grateful that, over the past decade, I’ve been able to advance my career, find love, start a family, and build a home because of the opportunity to cross the border between two allied countries. It saddens me that this alliance, so deeply rooted in shared history and values, is now threatened for no good reason.

Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which would have spelled the end of USMCA and North America as a common market, were scheduled to be implemented on Feb. 4. My citizenship interview was scheduled for Feb. 6. At the last minute, the tariffs were postponed. Despite a possible snowstorm, my interview was not. I passed the civics and–quelle surprise–English exam and was approved for naturalization. I then accepted an impromptu offer to take the Oath of Allegiance that same day.

I was the only Canadian at the ceremony. The officer, a first-generation immigrant herself, said she knew how hard it was to learn a new language, adjust to a different culture, and develop a taste for foreign food. Admittedly, I experienced none of those challenges when moving to the US. (Though there were some cultural challenges, like having to learn the meaning of “copay.”) But I do remember times when I felt very much alone, far from friends and family and anyone who cared for me. I no longer feel that way. I have a family of my own in the US. I have a life and a future here.

Though, as of this writing, the US has not annexed Canada, the news cast a pall on my journey to citizenship. Still, though I was and remain a proud Canadian, I’m now a proud American as well. I pledged to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” To me, Canada will never be foreign. And to any right-thinking American, it will never be an enemy, either.