While recent rulings from the Supreme Court of Canada have been slammed for being too activist, their latest decision is a score for the traditionalists.

Don't want to pledge allegiance to the Queen when collecting your citizenship? Tough. Deal with it.

That's effectively the message the SCOC sent three applicants on Thursday by refusing to grant them an appeal after they lost out at the Court of Appeal for Ontario last summer.

Applicants Michael McAteer, Simone Topey and Dror Bar-Natan - all permanent residents - didn't want to state at a citizenship oath ceremony that they "will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her heirs and Successors."

But, as the Ontario court ruling noted, "The oath is secular and is not an oath to the Queen in her personal capacity but to our form of government of which the Queen is a symbol."

In other words, the current wording of the citizenship oath is about pledging allegiance to a symbol of Canada.

The applicants all had different personal reasons: McAteer is a staunch republican from Ireland; Topey claims her Rastafarian religion prohibits such a pledge; and Bar-Natan opposes the Queen as a symbol of privilege.

Quite a trio. They clearly believe their views should be held superior to their civic duties. Their case went so far as to argue that the oath violated their constitutional right to freedom of expression.

So people who aren't even citizens are claiming their constitutional rights are being violated because they can't set the rules about how they'd be granted citizenship? Talk about a lack of gratitude mixed with a few doses of entitlement. The bar for what's considered a rights violation just seems to get lower and lower every year.

But while many Canadians are likely applauding the SCOC's call, the public's love of the monarchy is tenuous at best. Polls show our love for them wanes when they're out of the spotlight. We aren't actually a country of hardened monarchists.

A May 2013 poll from Forum Research showed that 45% of Canadians were actually OK with abolishing the monarchy with 44% opposed.

But only two months later - following the birth of Prince George - affection grew with 37% wanting to turf the royals and 48% wanting to keep them.

However with this one matter settled, don't think the ruling will deter future complaints about the citizenship process.

After all, earlier this month the Federal Court sided with a woman who claimed it was her right to wear a niqab while taking the oath of citizenship.

But the prime minister has made it clear the government will appeal that decision. That means the niqab issue is going to be a hot political topic come this year's election.

Politically, many Canadians just want to make sure it's the country that sets the parameters for how one becomes a citizen. Not the newcomers themselves. That's not an unreasonable position to hold at all.