A look at proposed changes to Citizenship Act

The bill, proposed by Immigration Minister John McCallum, would shorten the residency requirement, meaning someone who began their application around, say, Super Tuesday, could conceivably become a citizen nearly two full years before Trump’s first term ends.

The Liberal government has introduced new legislation to remove barriers to citizenship erected by its Conservatives predecessors while retaining and extending officials’ authority to deal with fraud.

Effectively, the bill means the Liberals will be returning citizenship to Zakaria Amara, ringleader of the Toronto 18 terror group, which planned al-Qaida-style violence in southern Ontario to push Canada to abandon Afghanistan.

The immigration minister said this was the “stupidest” part of the previous citizenship act.

“The Government is keeping its commitment to repeal certain provisions of the Citizenship Act, including those that led to different treatment for dual citizens”.

Repealing the intent to reside provision that raised immigrants’ fear that their citizenship could be revoked if they moved outside of Canada. They include an Iranian-Canadian and a Pakistani-Canadian imprisoned for a 2010 plan to bomb military bases in Canada.

The BC Civil Liberties Association and Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL) launched a constitutional challenge to second-class citizenship in August, 2015.

The new Liberal bill would also decrease the amount of time a permanent resident must live in Canada before being eligible for citizenship and allow non-permanent residents to count some of their time in the country towards that residency requirement.

Proposed change: Repeals national interest grounds and restores citizenship of anyone who has been affected.

The age range for language and citizenship knowledge exams would also be amended, exempting those younger than 18 or older than 54. It divided Canadians into different classes that received different treatment, turning millions of Canadians into second class citizens with fewer rights than other Canadians.

After hearing the case, Justice Bruce Durno called the scheme “spine chilling” and said “the potential for loss of life existed on a scale never before seen in Canada”.