IS THIS BABY A CANADIAN?

Federal lawyers wrestle over citizenship of baby born on airplane


By Andrew Duffy
January 2, 2009

OTTAWA — Is Baby Sasha, the child born to a Ugandan woman during an international flight over Canada on New Year's Eve, a Canadian citizen?

That question now rests with Immigration Department lawyers, who must determine whether Canadian citizenship rights that apply on the ground also apply in the air.

"I don't expect I'll have an answer for you before early next week," Karen Shadd, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, told Canwest News Service on Friday.

A child born on Canadian soil to a foreign visitor would have the right to citizenship, but it's not clear whether a baby born in the air shares that right.

"That's the question they're dealing with," said Shadd.

Baby Sasha was delivered on a crowded Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Boston on New Year's Eve.

The mother, 8 1/2 months pregnant, went into labour about six hours into the eight-hour flight.

An appeal was made on the Boeing 757's public address system for help with a medical emergency and two doctors — a radiology oncologist from Minneapolis, Dr. Natarajan Raman, and Dr. Paresh Thakker, a family physician from Massachusetts — came forward, according to accounts in U.S. papers.

The doctors laid the woman across a row of seats in coach class; a blanket was rigged around the seats to create a makeshift delivery room.

Thakker told the pilot that it was too late for an emergency landing since the baby had already crowned.

Sasha was born without complications about 10 minutes later, at 9 a.m., as the flight passed through Canadian airspace. The baby weighed just over six pounds.

"She (Sasha) looked perfect," Thakker told the Boston Globe. "She opened her eyes and was very happy. She was so calm: she didn't cry at all."

The entire plane erupted in applause when the baby was handed to her relieved mother.

After the plane landed in Boston, the woman and her new baby were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital.

U.S. officials deemed Baby Sasha a Canadian for customs purposes, but it remains unclear whether the child is, in fact, Canadian.

Some European countries do not allow a baby born on their soil (or in their airspace) to automatically gain citizenship rights.

The airline has not released the woman's name. It's not clear why she was travelling to the U.S. or why she decided to fly so late in her pregnancy.

A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines, which owns Northwest, said the company does not impose travel restrictions on pregnant women. It does, however, recommend that women in their final month of pregnancy consult a doctor before flying.