Jan. 2, 2009
When Theresa Kenny left her nunnery in Boston after 26 years, she said it was because she wanted to be able to travel and do what she wanted. "I wanted freedom," she said.
That freedom eventually led her back to the Miramichi, where she is fighting to get her Canadian citizenship.
Kenny was born in Miramichi, but after her father died, her mother moved the family to Boston so she could find work. Kenny was 13 at the time.
By age 20, Kenny was a nun and teacher with the Sisters of Charity of Vincent de Paul. When she left the order in 1960, she moved to New York City with only $500 to her name.
Kenny said she got a job as a teacher in Times Square, but didn't know about rent or other things people need to get by. "I needed exposure."
After four years in New York, Kenny went back to Boston and retired from teaching in 1986.
She spent a few years in Florida before moving back to Miramichi in 2003, where she lives by herself in a small rented house.
Even though Kenny was born in Canada, she lost her citizenship when her mother became a U.S. citizen. Kenny said she was still a minor at the time and wasn't old enough to make the decision.
"I didn't even know what it was about."
With no citizenship, Kenny doesn't have medicare and lives off social security from the U.S. and a pension she gets from teaching in a public school.
Now that she's back in Canada, Kenny wants to get medicare and said she isn't eligible for the Canada Pension Plan so that shouldn't be an issue in getting her citizenship. "It's not money."
Kenny said she gets letters about her case from Ottawa and Sydney, N.S. where her case worker is, but she doesn't understand everything she gets.
"See, it's very hard to understand what's going on."
One option is for her to apply for permanent residency, which would allow her to get medicare if she is eligible, but Kenny said it's not even guaranteed.
"I'm a very proud woman and I hate surrender."
Her father is buried in the Miramichi and she said she wanted to come back while still able so she could be buried in a plot next him.
"This has bothered me," she said.
Kenny said she thought at the end of her life being buried beside her father would give her comfort.
"I want either my citizenship back or nothing."
Bunny Dempsey is with the Knights of Columbus and met Kenny about two years ago when he was collecting for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. He also brings her communion every Sunday.
For months he has been trying to help her and said he has spoken to politicians to see what they can do to help her with her citizenship problems.
"I don't understand why she can't get it back."
Dempsey said he thought anyone born in Canada would be a citizen forever unless they renounce it. "It hurts me."
For now, his Knights of Columbus council has given her five weeks of meals on wheels and he said they found her a doctor who is on salary so she could get treatment for a problem with one of her legs.
"We'll keep an eye on her."
As she sat in her living room, surrounded by works of art collected from her travels around the world, Kenny said she is getting tired of the citizenship problems and is too old to worry about it.
"I'm up in a bind now."
With the cold Miramichi winters, Kenny thought about going back to Florida, but said she doesn't think she would be able to come back if she left the country.
"That's what I'm worried about."
Miramichi-Bay du Vin MLA Bill Fraser said he was aware of Kenny's case, but there wasn't much he could do to help. "It's a federal issue."
He spoke with MP Tilly O'Neill-Gordon's office, with former MP Charles Hubbard before that and the Department of Intergovernmental Affairs on her behalf, but said he wished he could do more.
"I've done everything in my power that I could."
Fraser said it is his first experience with a case like Kenny's and he thinks the government needs to come on board to help her. "I'd certainly love to be able to help her."
Kenny said she loves both Canada and the U.S. and would like to have a dual citizenship, but she can't get it. "They don't give it."
She loves her house, the Miramichi and New Brunswick, but said she would have stayed in the U.S. if she had known she was going to run into the problems she has.
"I can't get through it emotionally."
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