Harper Conservatives Make it Harder To Become Canadian Citizen

INVC,

CANADA

 While this week’s citizenship bill contains some important reforms, the Conservative government has included many provisions that are concerning and which will require serious study, said federal NDP.“Everyone agrees that Canadian citizenship is something of enormous value. What we don’t want to see is an approach that plays politics with the issue—something we’ve seen all too often from this government ,”said NDP Citizenship and Immigration critic Lysane B l a n c h e t t e – L a m o t h e(Pierrefonds – Dollard). “The Minister needs to do the right thing and commit to working with us to bring real improvements to our citizenship laws.”The changes proposed under the new bill include extending the waiting period to become a citizen, extending citizenship to the “Lost Canadians”, and revoking citizenship from dual citizens in some situations.

The bill also puts more power in the hands of the Minister to make decisions related to citizenship.“The Conservatives have failed to take action on the most obvious problems – the enormous citizenship processing backlog that they themselves created,” added NDP Multiculturalism critic Andrew Cash(Davenport). “Instead of giving himself more power, the Minister should focus on helping thousands of families still waiting to reunite.”The new legislation will streamline Canada’s citizenship program by reducing the decision making process from three steps to one. It is expected that, by2015–2016, this change will bring the average processing time for citizenship applications down to under a year. It is also projected that by 2015-2016, the current backlog will be reduced by more than 80 percent. Citizenship application fees will be better aligned with the actual cost of processing, relieving the burden on Canadian taxpayers who currently subsidize 80 percent of the cost. This legislation includes stronger penalties for fraud and misrepresentation (a maximum fine of $100,000and/or five years in prison), and expanding the grounds to bar an application for citizenship to include foreign criminality which will help improve program integrity.

“Our government is strengthening the value of Canadian citizenship. Canadians understand that citizenship should not be simply a passport of convenience. Citizenship is a pledge of mutual responsibility and a shared commitment to values rooted in our history. I am pleased to bring forward the first comprehensive and over due reforms of the Citizenship Act in more than a generation, ”said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. The Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) applauded the new legislation and said it will to further safeguard consumer interests by regulating those who act as consultants on citizenship matters. “The Minister’s move to regulate persons who provide advice on the citizenship process is a necessary and important change,” said Bob Brack, President& CEO of the ICCRC.“While the Canadian immigration consulting profession has been effectively regulated by the ICCRC since 2011, under a provision in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act similar to that announced yesterday, citizenship consulting has never been regulated. The ICCRC looks forward to working with CIC to ensure that persons providing citizenship advice are effectively regulated.”