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SAQUAREMA, Brazil (AP) — Teen surfer Erin Brooks, whose application for Canadian citizenship was denied this week, won the Corona Saquarema Pro on Saturday.
The 16-year-old Brooks beat Australia’s Sophie McCulloch in the final of the competition, an event of the World Surf League’s Challenger Series.
Brooks was born in Texas and raised in Hawaii, but has Canadian ties through his U. S. -born father Jeff, who holds dual U. S. -Canadian citizenship, and his grandfather, who was born and raised in Montreal.
Brooks had hoped to get his citizenship and present Canada at the Paris Olympics next year, but the existing challenge means he had to miss the Pan American Games, which opened Friday in Chile and offer the winner an Olympic berth.
The opportunity to qualify for the Olympics is at the ISA World Championships in Puerto Rico in February.
Brooks is, according to many, the favorite to win a medal at the Olympics because of the tricky left barrel situations in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, where next year’s Olympic surfing occasion will take place.
He earned a silver medal at the ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador in June and a gold medal at the ISA Junior World Championships in June 2022.
Citizenship of Canada is complex, with amendments that changed regulations in 2009 and 2015. But essentially, House Bill C-37 of 2009 ended the extension of citizenship to foreign-born second generations.
In a letter explaining its decision to grant a “discretionary grant of citizenship,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says Brooks met the requirements.
“The application is denied on the basis that the applicant is not stateless, has not experienced special hardship or hardship, or has not provided exceptionally priced facilities in Canada that would justify the discretionary grant of Canadian citizenship,” the letter states.
No Canadian has ever won a WSL Challenger Series event. The win means Brooks qualifies for next year’s Challenger Series.
Surf Canada says Brooks intends to appeal citizenship to Federal Court.
The World Surf League offers 3 grades of competition: the Regional Qualifying Series (QS), the Challenger Series (CS), and the Elite Championship Tour (CT). There are no Canadians competing at this level.
The Brazilian was the sixth and final event of the 2023 Challenger Series. Brooks finished ninth overall for the season.
In March 2022, Surfing Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee asked the International Surfing Association (ISA) to allow Brooks to compete for Canada, as his citizenship application had been submitted, but still complete.
The ISA acceded to the request but replaced its brain in June of this year, saying that “this resolution was made incorrectly and not in accordance with applicable ISA regulations. “
The ISA suspended Brooks’ eligibility to compete for Canada, saying it would reconsider the resolution if “proof of citizenship was provided with a verified document from the Canadian government. “
This prevents Brooks from competing in the Pan American Games and the ISA World Championships. He then competed for Canada in the World Surf League Challenger Series.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published on October 21, 2023.
The Canadian press
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