Originally Posted by
stevenshev
I agree with you that they are not mutually exclusive, but that's not the point I was making.
Of course it's not the point you were making; it's the point I was making -- laws applicable in Canada to Canadian residents (citizens or not) may not necessarily be applicable to Canadian citizens no longer resident in Canada. And that's before the problem prosecutors would have in demonstrating that something was intentional.
Even putting a passport in a microwave can be done for reasons not related to intentionally damaging the passport -- it can be done to disinfect it. A government would have trouble proving that a passport RFID was intentionally damaged in a way as to violate applicable law (if any).
Originally Posted by stevenshev
If the OP wants to travel internationally, it is irrelevant where he resides, he is a citizen of Canada. Therefore, regardless of his allegiance or lack thereof, he is still obligated by the relevant Canadian laws concerning its citizens, issuance of passports, monitoring of foreign travel (not that these exist, but theoretically), and so forth. See above citation of Can Code for reference.
Where a person resides can be more relevant than the country of which he is a citizen. Example: Canadian citizen resident in the US who goes to Cuba and spends money there without UST-OFAC approval. Also, some countries do not exert extraterritorial jurisdiction over their citizens to the scope and extent that the US government does; that is, the US government reaches over our borders more than the Canadian government reaches over their borders.