CIMM Committee News Release
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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 |
For immediate release
From the following Members of the Citizenship and Immigration Committee
- Andrew Telegdi, Liberal, Committee Chair
- Diane Ablonczy, Conservative Critic
- Meili Faille, BQ Critic
- Bill Siksay, NDP Critic
NEWS RELEASE
House of Commons Concurs with Committee's Report on Citizenship Revocation
Ottawa, June 17, 2005 - The Honourable Andrew Telegdi, Liberal Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo and Chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, today moved concurrence in the House of Commons on the Committee’s tenth report, entitled Citizenship Revocation: A Question of Due Process and Respecting Charter Rights. The House unanimously agreed to adopt the report.
When a committee concludes a study and reports to the House, concurrence in the committee's report is an explicit acceptance of the report’s recommendations.
Under the current Citizenship Act, citizenship can be revoked when a person obtained citizenship or permanent residence by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances. Following a review in Federal Court - where a judge must simply agree that it is more likely than not that the person improperly obtained citizenship - the Federal Cabinet becomes responsible for making the revocation order. The Committee has recommended a fully judicial process.
Members of all four parties on the Committee agreed that Cabinet should have no role whatsoever in revoking citizenship. Leaving the final decision on revocation to Cabinet fosters a perception of unfairness. It is not a transparent process and is thus open to abuse.
The report is the result of cross country consultations involving more than 130 witnesses during this parliamentary session. Evidence relating to previous citizenship studies in the 36th and 37th parliaments was also reviewed. Key recommendations in the report include:
— The process for revoking citizenship should be exclusively a judicial process.
— To revoke citizenship, false representation or fraud or knowingly concealing material circumstances should be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal court, the legal protections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – specifically section 7 to 14 – must apply, and there should be no special limits placed on the right to appeal.
— Whether to revoke citizenship or impose another punishment should be left to the discretion of the trial judge.
— When following a finding of guilt a judge orders that a person’s citizenship is revoked, the judge should also be empowered to order that the person be deported if the false representation or fraud or knowing concealment of material circumstances related to the person’s application for permanent residence in Canada.
• Before deporting an individual, there must be a risk assessment to determine whether they will face torture. Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that torture will occur, deportation should not be permitted under any circumstances.
We expect a new citizenship bill to be tabled in the House of Commons this fall. Given today’s concurrence motion, I trust the bill will reflect the Committee’s recommendations which have now become recommendations of the entire House of Commons.
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