Citizenship by descent should undoubtedly be pursued if you have a parent that is Canadian

If you can get it, you absolutely should. The benefits to Canadian citizenship are unique and distinctive. We thought we’d list off a few here to illustrate why the process is worth pursuing.

As a Canadian citizen, you can get a Canadian passport. It is one of the most secure and respected travel documents in the world. We touch on this on a post at our sister site, here. Reputation goes a long way, and Canada is internationally recognized as a friendly and tolerant country that works hard to cultivate and maintain international relationships with other countries. Most importantly, you’re entitled to consular protection with a Canadian passport – even if you’re a dual citizens. That means that Canadian consulate can help you with a variety of issues if you lose your passport or need help contacting your family and you can enter 157 countries visa free!

You can get involved politically in Canada, too. As a Canadian citizen, you have democratic rights. This includes the ability to run for office. This means you can run in municipal, provincial or federal elections. It also means you can vote in federal, provincial and municipal elections. Voting means you get to have a say in who runs your town, city, school board, province, territory, or country.

This is all great, but the aforementioned is predicated on the assumption that you recognize the benefits of coming to and ultimately residing in Canada, even at least for a short while.

“Canada is consistently seen as a great place to live”

According to the OECD Better Life Index, Canada ranks above the average in housing, subjective well-being, personal security, health status, social connections, environmental quality, jobs and earnings, education and skills. These rankings are based on available selected data. To boot, according to the  2013 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data on minimum wages, Canada’s average take-home wage, adjusted for purchasing power, is the ninth-best in the world. The US came in 11th, $0.92 behind Canada. Canada is the 7th happiest place on earth and widely viewed as a progressive, just, and fair society.

Need a bit more convincing? Check out Maclean’s and their 150 reasons on why it’s better to be Canadian.