"PROVE YOU'RE A CANADIAN: FEDS TO BERTON," MONTREAL GAZETTE  (DECEMBER 12, 2001).

Copyright Southam Publications Inc. 2001

Pierre Berton is arguably the most Canadian of Canadians, but that's not good enough for federal bureaucrats.

The prominent historian, author of 48 books, including The Last Spike, journalist and Companion of the Order of Canada has been asked to prove he's a Canadian citizen before Heritage Canada will release funds to a film-maker who did a documentary on him.

"My family were United Empire Loyalists. We go back six generations. Capt. Peter Berton was on the ship that was part of the flotilla that founded the province of New Brunswick," Berton sputtered over the phone from Toronto. "We've been around for a while."

Berton was contacted last week by the Canadian Audio Visual Certificate Office (CAVCO), a government branch responsible for making sure television and film productions are certifiably Canadian and entitled to a tax credit.

Edmonton producer Lindsay Speer of The Idea Factory made the Berton documentary, Canada's Arrogant Icon, which aired on CBC's Life and Times in 1999. Berton is refusing to sign CAVCO's declaration of citizenship form. "It's nationalism gone crazy. ... I couldn't believe they were asking me to say I was Canadian," Berton said.

A Heritage Canada spokesman declined comment.

Though the Berton incident sounds like a laughable anomaly, it's not.

Edmonton film-makerGerri Cook is having the same problem with Regina-born actor Leslie Nielsen. The Naked Gun star voiced a 1998 documentary on beluga whales for Cook's company, Arctic Pictures. But she has had trouble getting Nielsen to sign. "His agent has refused to bother him for this piddly little ridiculous situation," she said. "We must have tried for a year."

Cook said bureaucrats finally agreed to accept Nielsen was a Canadian citizen earlier this year, but she has yet to receive the CAVCO certificate number she needs for Revenue Canada.

Edmonton TV producer Ava Karvenon, too, has been struggling to get a tax credit for Stories From the Seventh Fire. The hold-up is Alberta-born Tantoo Cardinal (North of 60), who's star, director, associate producer and narrator of 1999's Stories From the Seventh Fire.

Karvenon says she sent CAVCO her citizenship information, but she's been asked to send it again because bureaucrats can't find it. Every declaration requires an original, notarized signature.