Take pride in your Canadian passport

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/11/2021 (1488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I have frequently spoken to people about one of the most valuable and important documents they can own. Yes, your mortgage and similar paperwork is important, but the document that tells a bigger story is your Canadian passport. Now, with the travel world potentially opening up to us again, people are getting it at furious rates.

While it is the only means that allows you to travel out of country, it represents so more than that.

It speaks to who we are as a people — and what we represent as a country.

It is one of the highest rated passports in the world according to the Henley Passport Index — the company that measures and ranks 199 passports from around the world in terms of their acceptance.

In the most recent survey, Canada was ranked in a tie for eighth, compared to all of those measured worldwide which can be accessed for without a visa.

Out of the 199 countries analysed, Canadians can visit at least 184 countries visa-free. While Japan, Singapore, USA, and the Netherlands are ahead of us this year — Canada has ranked as high as second in the past.

Covid has had some effect on the rankings of Canada — and most nations. Countries were opening and closing their borders to many of the normally non-restricted countries prior to the pandemic — strictly because of rates of infections internally, and externally. It created barriers in an unprecedented way. Regions which did not address the pandemic issues with strict guidelines and widespread vaccinations may have chosen to open their borders to inbound travel anyway — but tourists who would have normally welcomed these openings—have not responded with visitations.

At the same time, citizens of many of these countries, vaccinated or not, have been barred from travelling to other destinations where the Covid pandemic has been controlled to much higher degrees. Some of these countries have seen big drops in their rankings.

Two examples of this are Egypt and Kenya. Until recently at least, Egypt had no travel restrictions in place—but their passports were only welcomed by 51 countries. That put Egypt in 97th place according to the rankings.

Similarly, passport holders in Kenya will only be able to successfully show them for entry in 72 nations—putting them at 77th in the rankings.

Canada’s current and rising vaccination rates are seen as positive by most other countries, and borders have been steadily opening to us for tourism and business.

While our vaccination rates make us more welcome, the true the value in our passport goes well beyond health issues.

Our passport reflects who we are. On a regular basis, surveys show that the world views Canada as a friendly and accepting country to all visitors—one of the reasons we are on the wish list for many would be travellers from around the world.

We are seen as a tolerant nation where, for the most part, visitors from cultures from around the world feel they can travel through Canada freely without fear of being racialized or concerned about their safety.

Notwithstanding some major issues that we know still remain to be addressed internally, Canada is perceived as a nation where people can visit any part of the country and feel the standard of living will be more or less the same.

Perceptions of our hospitality and accommodations sectors are positive—and the quality of cleanliness and upkeep at our major tourist sites are known to be excellent.

All of these positive views are then turned towards us when we travel, and as people find out we are Canadian. We are treated kindly, respectfully and graciously around most of the world.

Our passport often means we are going to clear customs in a judicious manner, and as promptly as checking procedures allow.

It is noteworthy that, as proud as we are of our nationality, most Canadians don’t flaunt it with loud and pronounced flag stamped clothing. Our understated manner often has Canadians displaying our flag with small pins and non-ostentatious identifications.

Over many decades of travel, I have experience how attitudes towards me have shifted to a warm and embracing mode—once they learnt I was Canadian.

It always fills me with pride—and is the reason my passport represents more than the paper that it is printed on to me — and most Canadians.

Pradinukr@shaw.ca