The House of Commons committee on immigration has called an urgent meeting next week to discuss allegations that the department and former minister misled a federal judge during a trademark infringement case — an allegation former immigration minister Marco Mendicino has categorically denied.
The allegations stem from the creation of a new college to regulate immigration consultants in 2020.
Farzana’s life is in danger and time is running out. Her visa will expire at the end of the year in the country where she is residing. Unable to work or access the healthcare she requires to treat diabetes, she is currently depending on supporters to send her money to afford basic life necessities.
As a dedicated women’s rights defender Farzana has spent her life advancing women’s equality. She has helped to build schools for girls and maternity hospitals, she co-founded Gender Equality Rights Organization Afghanistan, and worked as chief of staff for the UN Commission on the Status of Women in the office of former Afghan president Asraf Ghani. It is this dedication to advancing women’s equality that puts her life in such danger due to Taliban retribution. Indeed, the Taliban have a decade-long history of harassing and beating Farzana to within an inch of her life.
The "second-generation cutoff" is a rule under Bill C-37 that permanently denies the first generation born abroad the ability to automatically pass on citizenship to their children if they are also born outside Canada.
It also eliminated the ability to gain citizenship by showing a "substantial connection" to Canada. Now those second-generation children have to be sponsored by their parents to come to Canada as permanent residents, then apply for citizenship like any other immigrant.
"What's discriminatory about the Citizenship Act is that there is no way that people can rid themselves of this second-class status, no matter how close and deep their ties to Canada are," said Sujit Choudhry, a constitutional lawyer in Toronto representing seven families living in Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States, who are all affected by this rule.
NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said there is nothing new listed in what Fraser, who is from the Liberal Party, tabled in Parliament.
“What the Government provided is nothing more than the recycling of what is already in place. The Minister is not proposing anything new to the Immigration Levels plan to support the goals set out in Motion 44,” Kwan wrote in an email to CIC News. “This so-called strategy lacks any real information or details of what a true comprehensive plan would entail.”
NDP MP Jenny Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.) said the difference between her party and Poilievre’s Conservatives is the NDP is focused on “real solutions.”
She said Poilievre’s politics is “the politics of division” and about trying to “rev people up.”
“From our perspective, we’re going to focus on the people, with real solutions, meaningful solutions. We’re not just there for the sake of politics, we’re there to actually get things done. And that’s the difference between us and the Conservatives,” she said.
The first two items are directly from the Liberal-NDP agreement, and the increase to the GST rebate is also something the NDP has called for. But Trudeau’s planned press conference was delayed, and when he did appear before the cameras several hours later it was to react to the death of Queen Elizabeth.
“The housing supports announced today were secured by New Democrats for everyday people as part of the supply and confidence agreement. While this is good news for Canadians, we know that more needs to be done to help families afford to keep a roof over their heads. Since 1993, the housing crisis has been ignored by Liberal and Conservative governments who abandoned federal affordable housing programs people relied on. It’s wrong that families who need help now have been ignored by decades of Liberal and Conservative governments,” Kwan said.
“New Democrats will continue using our power to push the Liberals to make life more affordable for everyday people. This means pushing to reverse Liberal and Conservative cuts by restoring the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s role in building social and co-op housing. We will continue to fight for meaningful investments that address the urgent homelessness crisis in communities struggling with encampments. It also means pushing the Liberals to ensure immediate relief to renters who need it and crack down on investors treating housing like a stock market instead of a human right,” she added.

