News - Jenny Kwan, Member of Parliament

Squamish Chief: Squamish woman regains citizenship, vows to fight for other ‘lost Canadians’

Squamish’s Byrdie Funk will soon be a Canadian citizen, once again.

The local counsellor has been fighting to regain her citizenship, and change the Canadian Citizenship Act, for close to a year.

“I am thrilled that this has happened,” Funk told The Chief on June 7 after she found out she would no longer be stateless.

Funk was born in Mexico and moved to Canada when she was two months old.

She was shocked to discover, in April of 2016, that she had lost her Canadian citizenship due to an arcane law that required citizens born outside of Canada between Feb. 15, 1977 and April 16, 1981 to reapply for citizenship prior to their 28th birthday.

Unaware of the rule, Funk didn’t reapply. Nothing seemed amiss until she received a letter from the federal government in the spring of last year that she was no longer a citizen, and hadn’t been since 2008, when she turned 28.

In the intervening years she had lived, worked, bought a home, voted and travelled on a Canadian passport without incident.

Section eight of the 1977 Citizenship Act was overturned in 2009 but wasn’t retroactive, so an unknown number of Canadians who were 28 or older and born abroad are caught up in this gap.

Those left stateless are known as “lost Canadians.”

IN THE NEWS: NDP MP Jenny Kwan writes to mayor and council objecting to Chinatown rezoning proposal

Vancouver East NDP MP Jenny Kwan's office released the following letter today:

Link: NDP MP Jenny Kwan To Table Bill To Close Citizenship Law Gaps Creating “Lost Canadians”

“It is absurd that Canada continues to have gaps in our citizenship laws that lead to groups of ‘Lost Canadians’ suddenly finding themselves without status in Canada. What’s more, it’s 2016, why is Canada persisting with a multi-year court case on the strength of a law that the Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled to unconstitutional?”

After a series of consultations with stakeholder groups and immigration law experts, MP Kwan will be tabling a Private Member’s Bill to address gaps and outdated provisions with the Citizenship Actthat resulted in people who should be Canadian citizens losing or never receiving status in Canada. In some cases, impacted individuals find themselves stateless all of a sudden.

Media Release: NDP MP Jenny Kwan to table PMB to close citizenship law gaps creating “Lost Canadians”

Media Release: No Celebration for “Lost Canadians” on Citizenship Week

Vancouver – October 10 – 16, 2016 is Citizenship week. Yet for decades, some Canadians have found themselves rendered stateless due to a number of arcane laws. In a press conference with victims of Canada arcane laws, NDP critic for Immigration, Citizenship, and Refugees, Jenny Kwan stated, “It is absurd that as we celebrate this important occasion, a group of ‘Lost Canadians’ suddenly found themselves without status in Canada. What’s more, it’s 2016, why is Canada persisting with a multi-year court case on the strength of a law that the Supreme Court of Canada has already ruled to unconstitutional?”

Mr. Fadi Yachoua, Attorney to Mr. Kyle Lopez explained, “Kyle’s story is a reflection of the saga that continues because of a discriminatory policy base on gender. Even though the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that there should be no differential treatment between children born to Canadian fathers or mothers, the current Liberal Government is still fighting a multi-year legal battle against Mr. Lopez’s right to assert his Canadian citizenship. “The Prime Minister said he is a feminist. I hope he recognizes that had gender discrimination not existed in the Immigration Act, Kyle Lopez’s father would have been considered a Canadian at birth and he would have been able pass his citizenship on to Kyle. Kyle would not still be in court today fighting for his rights”, said Kwan.

The Dilpomat: Canadian or Chinese? Foreign Citizenship Brought Into Question

Ottawa is now querying Beijing over these recent cases, and have asked China to clarify any changes they have made to visa requirements and migration laws. Canadian Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan, who was born in Hong Kong, said she pressed Foreign Minister Stephane Dion, urging him to look into the visa situation.

“The change in practice should be of grave concern to Canadians; after all, a Canadian is a Canadian. As such, should all Canadians not be treated the same?” Kwan said.

Globe: Children born abroad to Canadians may end up as ‘Lost Canadians’

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan, who has met with other affected families, called the policy "discriminatory" against Canadians who choose to work abroad, especially in today's global economy.

"The Prime Minister himself has said on many occasions now, 'a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.' This also applies to second-generation Canadians born abroad as well. They shouldn't be treated as second-class citizens," Ms. Kwan said.

Jenny Kwan: Why does the best place on Earth have a homelessness crisis?

Welcome to the best place on Earth, where street homelessness has exploded by 367 percent and it is estimated that there are 10,000 to 15,000 people sleeping on the streets... - Click link

Ban Surveillance Pricing Petition

Petition on Surveillance Pricing

To Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Government of Canada:

Whereas:

Families across Canada are already being squeezed by the rising cost of groceries, housing, and everyday essentials;
Large corporations are collecting massive amounts of personal data about Canadians — including our online activity, shopping habits, location, and personal information — and using that data to increase their profits;
Surveillance pricing allows corporations to secretly use algorithms and artificial intelligence to determine what different people pay for the same products and services;
No Canadian should pay more simply because a company has collected more information about them, profiled their behaviour, guessed their income level, or determined that they can afford to be charged extra;
Canadians deserve an economy where technology works for people, not one where corporations use hidden algorithms and personal data to squeeze more money out of families;
The Manitoba government has recognized the need for stronger protections against unfair pricing practices and has taken steps to ban surveillance pricing and strengthen consumer transparency and accountability;

Therefore, we, the undersigned citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:

Ban exploitative surveillance pricing practices by prohibiting corporations from using personal data, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic systems to secretly charge different prices to different consumers for the same goods and services;
Strengthen privacy protections by ensuring that Canadians’ personal information cannot be collected, analyzed, or used to manipulate prices;
Establish clear rules against deceptive and unfair pricing practices, including requirements for transparency when corporations use algorithms, artificial intelligence, or consumer data to determine prices;
Create strong penalties and enforcement measures to hold corporations accountable when they engage in surveillance pricing practices that exploit consumers or undermine fair competition;
Give consumers the right to know why they are being charged a particular price and what information or technology was used to determine that price; and
Work with provinces and territories to establish strong national regulations that protect Canadians from digital price discrimination and corporate abuse of personal data.

Sign Petition

Should corporations profile consumers using their personal data, browsing history, and buying habits just to charge different prices for the exact same item?

Click to sign a petition calling Prime Minister Carney to ban surveillance pricing.

Latest News