CIMM 010; Tue., Nov. 23, 2004 - Supplementary Estimates A

Hon. David Anderson (Victoria, Lib.):

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The second question is about citizenship, and as I understand it, currently, other than for criminal charges that we're not told of during the application for citizenship, we have no other grounds for revoking or removing citizenship. I wonder whether you have any idea as to whether there might be other grounds for citizenship revocation other than just simply the misrepresentation with respect to criminal charges or criminal convictions. Thank you.

Hon. Judy Sgro: Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

When you talk about the whole issue of revocation and should there be other grounds other than the inadmissibility due to criminal activity, or old war crimes, or whatever, I think that's one of the reasons why we want to have a discussion on the citizenship legislation.

We have failed three times in trying to get updated citizenship legislation. There are some really important issues in there, and revocation is one of those. I'm hoping the committee, which is now going to deal with that issue, will come up with some new ideas, not necessarily more of the same, because I think the reason it hasn't passed before is because there haven't been any new ideas in the citizenship legislation. It's pretty cold and basic, and if we want to have success, I think it's time we looked at some new ideas.

When you talk about revocation, should there be other avenues in there? I think this is the kind of discussion people need to be having, because the Citizenship Act needs to address those kinds of issues and should be dealt with differently. Certainly, in terms of a revocation process, I want to make sure it's transparent, it's open, and that people understand that it's an open, fair, and just process. And that's part of what our new legislation, frankly, is going to move forward in that direction.

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