The federal NDP immigration critic along with the party's critic for public safety is calling on the Liberal government to intervene after learning that U.S. border officials revoked a Nexus card from a Canadian citizen with a "Muslim-sounding name" in the wake of the Trump administration's second partial travel ban.
Following a Global News investigation that revealed flaws with the way Canada evaluates immigration applications for persons with disabilities, community leaders, politicians and advocacy groups say it’s time the government changes its outdated and discriminatory immigration policies.
Since 2010, 384 people have received a discretionary grant of citizenship under the Act, the memo says; 326 were Lost Canadian cases, with almost all involving people who “failed to take steps required by the previous law to retain citizenship.”
Amendments made to the Citizenship Act in the Harper government’s 2009 bill (C-37) and 2015 bill (C-24) were meant to give citizenship to people who lost it or never had it, and generally simplify citizenship rules.
But the memo acknowledges there are still examples of Lost Canadians “not fixed” by both pieces of legislation.
Critics have argued Bill C-37 added a new elements of discrimination that the Liberals chose not to touch in their Citizenship Act-amending legislation, Bill C-6, which received royal assent in June.
One was the creation of a first-generation limit by descent (FGL), whereby the children of Canadians born abroad became ineligible for citizenship.
Bill C-37 also eliminated requirements under the 1977 Citizenship Act that included submitting an application prior to turning 28, but some individuals continue to be affected by the old law.
Byrdie Funk is one. On July 1, Funk — born in Mexico to Canadian parents — regained her citizenship after having it stripped as a result of the now-repealed 1977 Act provision.
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NDP MP Jenny Kwan introduced a private member’s bill in December 2016 that would, among other things, “allow a person to acquire Canadian citizenship despite being born outside Canada to a Canadian parent who was born outside Canada if the person establishes that the parent has or had a substantial connection to Canada.”
The Kwan bill is also addressed in the memo, but Morgan’s comments are redacted under the Access to Information Act section that covers advice to a minister and consultations or deliberations with a minister or their staff.
Don Chapman, the most outspoken advocate for Lost Canadians, thinks the entire Citizenship Act needs to be scrapped.
When Funk regained her citizenship this past Canada Day, Chapman celebrated the victory but told The Canadian Press drastic changes were needed.
“The laws have become so convoluted,” he said. “We need to not just close the gaps, we need a new citizenship act.”
"East Vancouver NDP MP Jenny Kwan has been pressing the Liberal government for action. But when she asked Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen about funding for the society in Question Period, he responded with talking points about the government’s support for refugees."
The following is a statement from Jenny Kwan, NDP Critic for Immigration and Refugees:
On behalf of the New Democratic Party, I wish to express my profound disappointment with the reinstatement of President Donald Trump’s travel ban. This ban ...
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.”
Vancouver East NDP MP Jenny Kwan's office released the following letter today:
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.