American Citizenship for a New Winnipegger - A Difficult Process

I'm trying to find out how to secure American citizenship for my Winnipeg-born baby. I'd been under the impression that the process would cost $460, but now I think I'm mistaken. It's just that it's so difficult to navigate the byzantine websites of the U.S. State Department and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Some of the 1-800 numbers only work in the United States, which is obviously no help when you're 62 miles north of the border. (Yes, it's only 62 miles, but it's a different world!)

All of this mess could have been avoided had there been a working U.S. consulate in Winnipeg. But according to a local I talked to, Winnipeggers actually chased the U.S. consulate out with a series of protests. So, in order to file a consular report of a birth abroad, I would actually have to fly with the baby to Calgary or some other less benighted Canadian city. (Americans really do not belong in Winnipeg!)

One is supposed to report a birth abroad as soon as possible, but it's not advisable to fly with a newborn until he is at least 8 weeks old. Now that we finally have a Canadian passport for our baby, we will fly to the United States and try to address the issue there.