MEDIA RELEASE: NDP moves amendments to fix the issue of “Lost Canadians”

Kwan will table amendments to an immigration Senate Bill S-245 to reverse this discriminatory law against second generation Canadians born abroad and their descendants.

“I have met many lost Canadians whose lives have been turned upside down because of this unjust policy that creates different classes of Canadian citizens,” added Kwan. “New Democrats are committed to ensuring second generation Canadians and their descendants born abroad attain their right to citizenship.”

NDP moves amendments to fix the issue of “Lost Canadians”

NDP proposes changes to fix punitive immigration laws that strip second generation Canadians born abroad from their right to citizenship

OTTAWA — On Monday, NDP critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East) will table amendments at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration to reverse a policy enacted by Stephen Harper’s Conservatives that stripped second generation Canadians and their descendants born abroad from their right to citizenship. This policy was never fixed under Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, and Kwan says it’s time to fix this injustice that destroyed lives.

“This punitive measure has caused so much hardship and pain for Canadian families. Their lives are in limbo and too many are having to struggle with forced family separation. Some Canadians even found themselves to be stateless,” said Kwan. “It is time to fix this injustice once and for all.”

Kwan will table amendments to an immigration Senate Bill S-245 to reverse this discriminatory law against second generation Canadians born abroad and their descendants.

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Toronto Star NEWS: Canada launches ad campaign warning newcomers claiming asylum is ‘not easy’

When reached for comment, NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the new measures are an abrupt shift from past policy.

“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.

In response, Miller maintained that becoming a Canadian citizen is not a right.

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.”