CPAC: Canada Introduces citizenship bill with NDP amendments to fix Lost Canadians injustice

Today is a historic day for Lost Canadians and their families and I am happy to stand with them and the Minister of Immigration at the press conference.

Legislation has been introduced to rectify the Conservative's punitive and unconstitutional law that stripped children of Canadian parents the right to Canadian citizenship creating two classes of Canadians. Today is a historic day for Lost Canadians and their families and I am happy to stand with them and the Minister of Immigration at the press conference.

For 15 years, this unjust law caused significant hardship and suffering to many Canadian families. It has separated families and rendered children stateless. If failed to recognize that Canadians are global citizens who travel aboard, study aboard and work aboard. They fall in love aboard and they have families aboard.

Last year, parliamentarians across party lines had a chance to fix the Lost Canadians issue by passing Bill S-245 as amended by the NDP. Instead, the Conservatives filibustered debate on the bill for 30 hours to delay its passage and refuse to allow it to advance to third reading.

When it became obvious that the Conservatives will continue playing games with the lives of Lost Canadians and their families by doing everything they can to block passage of the legislative fixes, I approached successive immigration ministers to call on them to bring in a government bill with the NDP amendments.

The government has a moral imperative and a legal one to act after the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the creation of two classes of Canadian citizenship is unconstitutional.

Let's pass the bill expeditiously and end the legacy of the Conservatives' unconstitutional treatment of second generation born abroad Canadians.

Click the link below to watch the press conference in Parliament:

https://www.cpac.ca/headline-politics/episode/minister-miller-discusses-new-citizenship-bill?id=d80699f3-3920-4202-8701-920c0b65d77f

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“This about face from Prime Minister Trudeau is a shameless and insidious attempt to use newcomers such as migrants, international students, and asylum seekers as political cover,” Kwan said in a statement emailed to the Star.

It’s a dangerous game on Trudeau’s part, said Kwan, in trying to “shift the blame for his failures” to asylum seekers — one she called “a recipe to further hype-up hate, resentment and discrimination toward racialized people.

“Instead of wasting $250,000 on advertising, they should be investing those resources in processing applications,” said Kwan.

immigration.ca NEWS: Marc Miller to propose reforms to Canada’s Immigration and Asylum System

Political opposition has also been vocal. NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan accused the government of scapegoating migrants for systemic issues, such as the housing crisis. Kwan called for a reversal of recent immigration changes, questioning their fairness to temporary residents and international students.

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Global NEWS: Sen. Woo downplays evidence that China ‘targeted’ MPs Chong, Kwan

In a statement, Kwan’s lawyer, Sujit Choudhry, said Woo’s allegation that the MP’s testimony was “flimsy” is “false and misleading.”

“It was CSIS who informed MP Kwan in a classified briefing that she was a long-time target of (Chinese Communist Party) interference and will remain an ‘evergreen target.’ MP Kwan testified and brought to the commissioner’s attention that she believed she had been de-platformed by Chinese community organizations,” Choudhry wrote in a statement to Global News.

Choudhry noted that CSIS officials testified that Beijing works through proxy agents in Canada’s Chinese diaspora and that Kwan is concerned the Chinese government used those proxies to target her for her advocacy on human rights issues in China.

“Senator Woo has every right to turn a blind eye to foreign interference actors and activities. MP Kwan chooses to use her voice to speak up and speak out to protect and defend Canada’s democratic institutions and processes.”