NDP critic for immigration, refugees and citizenship, Jenny Kwan, made the following statement:
"Since 2018, the NDP has been calling for the visa requirements to be dropped for Ukrainians who wish to come to Canada. With the unprovoked Russian invasion, the need to expedite the process for Ukrainians looking for refuge in Canada has never been more urgent.
I have heard from constituents who have family members back in Ukraine that have had their visa applications rejected. Canadians are feeling helpless and frustrated because they can't get their family members to safety. By failing to remove all the bureaucratic red tape the government is leaving people stranded in a terrifying situation. Today at the Parliamentary committee on Immigration, all parties voted to allow Ukrainians to come to Canada without a visa – only the Liberals said 'no' to the final motion.
Ukrainians need an obstacle-free path to come to Canada expeditiously. Lives hang in the balance. It's inexcusable that the government isn't taking this crucial step to help innocent people in Ukraine under threat of violence.
Furthermore, to ensure action to support Ukraine at this time of crisis, all parties also voted to increase resources at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to undertake this work so that the existing backlog for all immigration streams is not further impacted by this humanitarian crisis. The government cannot repeat the mistakes they made with Afghanistan by simply moving resources around. It is very unfortunate that the Liberals voted 'no' to the final motion today."
Corporations can use personal data such as location, device type, browsing history, purchase behavior, login status, and loyalty cards/programs to profile consumers and determine what different people are charged for the same goods and services.
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Applications from people around the world seeking Canadian citizenship certificates have been rising rapidly in recent months, fuelled by thousands of applications from the United States, CBC News has learned.
The number of people who have already received certificates as a result of Parliament’s adoption of “Lost Canadian” legislation late last year rose nearly 50 per cent between April 1 and May 31, according to new data obtained by CBC.
Bill C-3 allows citizenship for those who can prove they're descended from a Canadian ancestor, even if that ancestor left the country several generations back. It was adopted after the courts ruled that limiting citizenship to the first generation born outside of Canada was too restrictive.
Between mid-December — when Bill C-3 went into effect — and May 31, some 6,100 citizenship certificates were granted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to those who now qualify.
That is up from 4,075 certificates issued as a result of Bill C-3 from mid-December until March 31.
Another 17,390 people have received certificates as a result of having a Canadian parent. Prior to the bill's adoption, those who were born outside Canada had to have a Canadian parent to qualify for citizenship.
In June, IRCC suddenly suspended an estimated 100 certificates that had already been issued after flagging problems with the documents submitted with the applications. The concern from archivists is that some people who've already applied to IRCC will be sent back to archives to find more genealogical records.
The IRCC says 83 of the suspensions have been resolved and the certificates restored. It has sent procedural fairness letters to another 17 people whose certificates were suspended and given them 60 days to submit the documents necessary to prove their Canadian ancestry.
If they fail to provide acceptable proof, their citizenship certificates could be revoked.
New Democrat immigration critic Jenny Kwan said she has been getting letters and inquiries from people affected by the suspension letters and has written to Metlege Diab, calling for answers.
“It really makes no sense whatsoever, what’s going on," Kwan said. "And the minister is completely ignoring that reality right now.”
OTTAWA — The House of Commons public safety committee has voted unanimously to investigate Canada’s security screening processes, after a Canadian woman was arrested in Belgium for allegedly spying on NATO.
The committee adopted a special, out-of-session motion on Monday to probe the vetting of Biwei “Claire” Zhang by Canadian security officials before the start of an internship last summer at NATO’s central military headquarters in Belgium.
On July 25, Belgian authorities announced they’d arrested a “Canadian national of Chinese origin” on suspicion of spying for a third country while interning at the NATO headquarters. Subsequent reporting identified the suspect as Zhang, a computer science and systems engineering graduate in her early 30s who’d previously held positions at multiple Canadian federal agencies.
Zhang’s security clearance for the overseas NATO internship was approved by the Canadian government after she was vetted by CSIS.
The NDP does not have any seats on the public safety committee, or any House committee, but NDP public safety critic Jenny Kwan said she supported the investigation.
”The government needs to conduct a comprehensive review of how this individual was vetted and cleared for a sensitive NATO posting, including the role played by Global Affairs Canada, CSIS and the RCMP,” said Kwan in an email.
Kwan also it was important to ensure that candidate screening remain “evidence based” and “(does) not become a vehicle for racial or ethnic profiling.”