Press Release, November 12, 2002
Ottawa - In the House of Commons on Friday, November 8th, Inky Mark, PC Critic for Citizenship and Immigration stood to ask the Minister why the new Citizenship Bill (C-18) does not correct its fatal flaw.
For naturalized Canadians who are in the process of having their citizenship revoked, Section 16 of C-18 provides for judicial review and access to the courts. While Section 17, the very next section, allows up to five years for the Minister to annul citizenship without judicial review or access to the courts.
"Yesterday we debated the new government citizenship act, Bill C-18. The problem with the last two bills the government tried to introduce, Bill C-63 and Bill C-16, was that both created two classes of Canadian citizens i.e., those who are born here and those who are naturalized. My question is, why does the new citizenship act continue to support two classes of Canadian citizenship?" Mark asked.
To this question, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration spoke on how babies adopted by Canadians would instantly become citizens.
To get a more direct answer, Mark then asked, "Mr. Speaker, the problem is about due process of law. Under section 17 of the new bill, the minister still has a right to take away the citizenship of naturalized Canadians during the first five years. There is no equality of citizenship between Canadians by birth and Canadians by choice. Why does the Minister continue to support two classes of citizenship in this country?"
In reply, the Parliamentary Secretary suggested that this issue would be clarified and corrected during debate.
"Two classes of Canadians can not be tolerated. Citizenship should not and can not differ between Canadian's by choice and Canadian's by birth," Mark concluded.
For more information, please contact, Inky Mark, MP (613) 992-3176
www.inkymark.com
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Inky Mark, Member of Parliament
Progressive Conservative Critic
Citizenship and Immigration,
Aboriginal Affairs and
Northern Development
Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette