Nearly 250,000 Canadians Sign Petition To Revoke Elon Musk’s Citizenship

Ever since Trump took over the Oval Office, the entire world has had its fingers crossed. With immediate mass deportations and challenging other countries, one such country on the receiving end of Trump’s wrath is the USA’s best ally Canada. Trump, who has publicly announced his plans to implement a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports and who has proposed annexing the country as the 51st state, has fairly angered a lot of Canadians.

As it turns out, Trump’s closest associate Elon Musk holds Canadian citizenship which he received from his mother. Seeing his proximity to the Oval House and his participation in anti-Canadian activities, nearly 250,000 Canadians signed a petition to revoke Musk’s citizenship.

Musk in response wrote in a now-deleted tweet: “Canada is not a real country.”

The Petition

The petition claims that Musk "has used his wealth and power to influence our elections" and "has now become a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty". The petition was started by a British Columbia author Qualia Reed on the 20th of February. Reed took to Bluesky to write that they “never expected this petition to spread so far and so fast.” He further talks about the petition's growing number of supporters that it was not meant to be a personal attack. 

To (be) clear, this action I started, and all of you are spreading and growing, isn’t about personal attacks. It’s about ensuring that those who influence global policies and industries know that the people are not okay with their lack of ethical responsibility.

The petition, addressed to Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is open for signing till the 20th of June and has so far received signatures from nearly 250,000 Canadians and has been endorsed by MP Charlie Angus of the New Democratic Party.  

Elon Musk’s Citizenship 

The tech billionaire was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and moved to Canada at the age of 18. While working odd jobs, he studied at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. 

Musk had previously said that he obtained a Canadian passport as a teenager through his mother, Maye Musk, who was born in Canada. He later went to the USA on a student visa and received citizenship in 2002, a decade after arriving. Musk, who has endorsed Trump’s stricter immigration policies, has also come under scrutiny as many theorize that Musk may have stayed in the US illegally.

As for his citizenship, the petition is mostly symbolic as there seems to be no way for Musk’s citizenship to be revoked. While talking to CNN, University of Toronto’s law professor Audrey Macklin shared that

 Canada does not revoke citizenship that is lawfully obtained. This means that there is actually no way of revoking Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship unless he obtained it by fraud or misrepresentation.

There was a 2014 law called the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act which  included provisions to revoke citizenship if a dual-national Canadian was convicted of “national security offenses.” However, in 2017, the Trudeau government removed the denaturalization provisions and a new law re-nationalized any Canadian stripped of their citizenship on national security grounds.

Rising Tensions

The campaign against Trump and Musk is a result of the rising tension between the two Allied countries. Trump has previously threatened that Canada could become a US state and that tariffs will be implemented on steel, aluminum, and other imports. 

Canadians in response have also retaliated by canceling US trips, boycotting American products, and booing opposing anthems at hockey and basketball games. 

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