April 28, 2017- In response to campaign promises to remove
"unfair elements" from the current Citizenship Act, the
Liberal government introduced Bill C-6 "An Act to amend the
Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to another Act
to amend the current Citizenship Act" in June 2016. The
initial draft of Bill C-6 reduced the residency requirements to 3
out of 4 years, from 4 out of 6 years, limited the language test to
applicants between the ages of 18 and 54, from the current ages of
14 and 64 and removed the intent to reside in Canada requirement as
well as removing national security as a ground for revocation. Bill
C-6 is currently in its Third Reading in the Senate.
The changes in Bill C-6 were meant reverse many of the stringent
requirements put in place by the Conservative government's
"Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act" in May 2015.
However, Bill C-6 left the revocation process for fraud and
misrepresentation unchanged, much to the concern of several
Senators and members of the Immigration bar. The process put in
place by the Conservative government removed the decision making
power from the Governor in Council and granted it to an Immigration
Officer. In comparison to the previous revocation process which
involved several levels of review and adjudication, the current
revocation process is done completely through paper correspondence
and receives only one level of review by an Immigration Officer
with delegated authority from the Minister. Citizens suspected of
committing fraud or misrepresentation are not afforded a hearing
but rather are provided an opportunity to make written
representations to defend the allegation. Once the reviewing
Officer makes a decision, the individual is notified in writing
whether their citizenship has been revoked. There is no further
recourse available to the individual, such as an automatic appeal,
rather, should an individual wish to challenge the decision to
revoke citizenship, they may judicially review the decision at the
Federal Court of Canada.
Recent statistics show the current system has made the revocation
process much quicker. Since May 2015, approximately 235 Canadians
were stripped of their citizenship, compared to approximately 167
revocations under the old system used from 1988 to May 2015.
Critics of the current revocation process have stated that the new
system's efficiency has come at a serious cost as citizens are
being denied due process. In fact, there is an ongoing legal
challenge before the Federal Court of Canada regarding the
constitutionality of the revocation process. As a point of
comparison, permanent residents who are suspected of committing
fraud or misrepresentation are afforded several opportunities to
defend against the allegations, which include two levels of
hearings before an independent administrative tribunal.
In response to concerns regarding the fairness of the current
process, on March 9, 2017, Senators introduced an amendment to Bill
C-6 to ensure more safeguards are in place to protect a
citizen's rights, which would include the right to a hearing
before the Federal Court of Canada before a citizen has their
citizenship revoked for fraud and misrepresentation. After some
debate, the Senate ultimately voted in favour of the amendment,
which is being hailed by members of the Immigration bar and civil
liberties groups for restoring a citizen's basic constitutional
rights. We should expect more changes as additional amendments to
other aspects of Bill C-6 have been proposed and continue to be
debated at the Senate, which will resume on May 2, 2017. Should
Bill C-6 pass Third Reading at the Senate, it will be sent back to
the House of Commons for a final reading. Stay tuned for updates.
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