Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration

HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6

Comité permanent de la citoyenneté et de l'immigration

Please note the revised section appears in bold under “Citizenship Act” which revises the Committee's News Release of December 20, 2004

For immediate release

Ottawa, February 28, 2005 - The House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration will be traveling to the following cities in April 2005: St. John’s, Halifax, Charlottetown, Fredericton, Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria. Hearings will be held at each location on the following topics:

In the Speech from the Throne of October 2004, the government indicated its intention to introduce new citizenship legislation, stating:

“What makes our communities work is our deep commitment to human rights and mutual respect. The Government is committed to these values. It will modernize Canada’s Citizenship Act to reaffirm the responsibilities and rights of Canadian citizenship and our values of multiculturalism, gender equality and linguistic duality.”

Although the former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Judy Sgro had indicated that new citizenship legislation would likely be tabled in Parliament in February 2005, the government is not yet prepared to introduce a bill. Rather, in light of the Committee’s preliminary advice provided in a report tabled in November 2004 entitled Updating Canada’s Citizenship Laws, the new Minister has requested that the Committee consult Canadians with respect to the following issues:

• Should new citizenship legislation include a preamble setting out the rights and responsibilities of citizenship?

• Should there be limits placed on the way citizenship can be obtained by birth?

• What should be the criteria for granting citizenship to newcomers?

• What are the appropriate reasons to remove citizenship and what process would be most appropriate?

• What should be the text of a new citizenship oath?

• What sort of citizenship engagement strategy does Canada need to make sure that citizenship is recognized and celebrated?

Witnesses are encouraged to use these questions and the Committee’s November 2004 report as a basic guide when crafting their submissions. They should not, however, feel limited to these specific topics. The Committee encourages Canadians to express their concerns regarding all aspects of Canada’s current Citizenship Act, as well as recent efforts to revise the legislation.

The best immigrant selection system in the world will ultimately be of little benefit to Canada if economic immigrants are unable to work in their trade or profession. The Committee realizes that this is a complex and multifaceted problem involving many levels of government and literally hundreds of professional and trade organizations. During the Committee’s travel, we intend to meet with provincial counterparts to discuss this issue and we also invite individual Canadians and professional and trade organizations to make submissions and recommendations

Specific questions that will be addressed include the following:

• The Committee would like to see a process in place whereby immigrants will be able to obtain the Canadian equivalency for their professional and trade credentials. What would such a process look like for your profession or trade?

• What would be the costs and challenges of implementing such a process?

• In which occupational fields has there been progress with respect to skills and credential recognition?

• Are problems in labour force integration evidence of shortcomings in Canada’s immigration programs? If so, what changes should be made to federal policies relating to skilled worker recruitment?

• Do other countries offer better models for the integration of newcomers?

One of the immigration objectives listed in section 3 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is “to see that families are reunited in Canada.” Similarly, section 4 of the Act states that one of the objectives with respect to refugees is “to support the self-sufficiency and the social and economic well-being of refugees by facilitating reunification with their family members in Canada.” The Committee invites witnesses to discuss their concerns relating to family reunification and welcomes recommendations for improving the current system

The following general topics have been identified as being of particular interest to the Committee:

• The family class sponsorship program;

• Delays in reuniting the families of refugees who have been granted Canada’s protection following the Immigration and Refugee Board determination process; and,

• Family reunification issues arising in the context of the private sponsorship of refugees program.

Meili Faille — Inky Mark

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