I am a US Permanent Resident with an Extra-class license from the FCC. I'm looking to operate when I visit Canada, but everything I'm seeing on the ARRL and RAC sites specifies Citizen.
Are there specific laws/rules that require US Citizenship, and if so, what do they actually say, or is Permanent Residence status sufficient?
According to Radio Amateurs of Canada:
In 1952, Canada and the United States signed a Reciprocal Operating Agreement treaty. In the terms of the agreement, visiting Amateurs may operate in the host country in accordance with the rules and regulations of the host country. [...] According to the regulations in both countries, you must be a citizen of the country that issued your Amateur license or certificate in order to take advantage of this reciprocal operating agreement. [emphasis added]
Further, according to the "Convention Between Canada and the United States of America relating to the Operation by Citizens of either Country of Certain Radio Equipment or Stations in the other Country" hosted on the US FCC site (bizarre capitalization scheme is in the original):
The Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America, being desirous of establishing rules to permit the citizens of either country, upon certain conditions, to operate etc etc etc
It seems that unless you are a citizen, you are NOT covered by the typical reciprocity that Canadian/US citizens take advantage of.
This does NOT mean that you are out of luck, just that you should probably contact either the RAC or the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; formerly Industry Canada) to see if there is a different program under which you might be eligible.
Others have pointed out the relevant parts of RIC-3 and Treaty Series 1952 No. 7, though I suppose this does not answer your actual question, which can be paraphrased as:
Is being a US Permanent Resident sufficient for the requirement of this treaty that licensed US operators be US citizens?
Strictly speaking, I think the answer is no, it is not sufficient.
This is because, even though you hold a "green card" you still must travel internationally under the passport of your home country. For the purpose of Canadian and US law, under which the Treaty was created, you are not a US citizen.
As other have pointed out (some saltier than others) it is unlikely you will run into any trouble, though. If you operate within the parameters given in RIC-3 no one will even care or notice. Since Canadian citizenship is not required for acquiring a Canadian license, and most hams near the border know we just share the air with only a few changes to operating requirements, it is unlikely that the letter of this law will ever be enforced.
The decision is yours, of course. It may be worthwhile seeing what the downside of being "caught" is, and if this would put your residency in jeopardy. I suspect there are few downsides, but I'm not the one taking the chance.
Anecdotally, the coursework for acquiring a Basic license in Canada never mentions citizenship in the section about operating internationally and in the US. This is probably because citizenship was a requirement for acquiring a license in the past, but this is no longer the case.
If the requirement has been relaxed, or if the legal language in the Treaty defers to modern licensing and operating requirements, though, I have not seen it. But, you know, IANAL, but someone might be able to find that in the publically available statutes.
