Evidence of meeting #68 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
7:40 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Thank you, Madam Chair.
To start with, to the officials, give us your thoughts on this amendment.
7:40 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
This is a necessary provision and safety valve to address the circumstances of those who this bill would automatically make citizens, and for whatever legal, professional or personal reasons, it may be problematic. The proposed provision is crafted in such a way that it would.... The persons notifying the minister and the department, and fulfilling these limited conditions—i.e. they have another citizenship and they don't reside in Canada—would be deemed never to have automatically been made Canadian citizens.
The reason that's desirable, as we spoke about some committee hearings ago, is that it's difficult to know ahead of time how the automatic citizenship provisions in this bill and these amendments may interact with other countries' laws. This proposal is the most effective way of addressing that concern by deeming someone to never have been a citizen. It leaves no room for interpretation, we would suggest, by another jurisdiction.
Thank you.
7:40 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
I'm just a little confused. Is the reason for this because of prior amendments we made, or is this related to the way the Citizenship Act is currently written?
7:40 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Even if the bill had not been amended, a provision like this is helpful with regard to the section 8 persons who are being remedied by the bill, as was proposed by the bill's sponsor. That's because there could be circumstances in which some of the people who never came forward for the original remedy may find themselves in situations where they don't wish to be a Canadian citizen automatically. It may cause them professional, legal or other challenges.
This amendment is helpful for the original scope of the bill, as well as for the subsequent amendments.
7:40 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
That's helpful.
We just talked about the original track we were on, where we were going to have this passed quickly. The new track we're on adds all that complexity to the bill. What you're saying is that the original changes proposed by the senator and the wording that was modified according to the department—which was agreed upon—would still need a clause like this to protect it from unintended consequences, or to give people the ability to opt out of citizenship. Is that what you're saying?
Even if we hadn't made all the other amendments related to adoption and other ones, we would still need this amendment in order to make sure the original intent of what the Senator proposed works properly.
7:40 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Some safety valve is always necessary whenever citizenship is being accorded automatically and retroactively. That was the case with the previous legislative amendments. I would say that's the general answer to the member's question.
My recollection is that, in the discussion with this committee, there was particular consideration for those benefiting from the connection test. A mechanism like this will also be available in those cases.
Thank you.
7:45 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Thanks.
In terms of numbers.... Right now, the way the act is written, can a person get in a situation with the law where they need to not have Canadian citizenship? Is that a situation today?
7:45 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes, that's correct. Currently, someone has to apply to renounce their citizenship.
7:45 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
What are some of the circumstances you've run across where people would want to renounce their citizenship?
7:45 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
They may vary, but one of the circumstances we're aware of and that I mentioned previously is when someone is working abroad in a profession where they may not be permitted to hold another citizenship, whether they're a legislator or another holder of high office.
It's not uniquely that circumstance, but that is one example discussed in the media on a number of occasions in recent years.
7:45 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
How many cases like this occur in the department, in your experience?
7:45 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I don't have those statistics in front of me, but we do have them. I believe we were to provide them to the committee. We may have done so recently, or perhaps we were close to doing so. Certainly, if we have not recently provided them, we will follow up and ensure that's done.
7:45 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
That would be good. It would be very good to know the scope.
I guess, with this clause—
Wait a minute. Do I see a late answer coming in?
7:45 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
In response to the member's question—because I didn't have it in my own binder, but a colleague has passed it—between 2018 and 2022, the department processed a total of 1,362 applications to renounce Canadian citizenship. Between the years of 2018 and 2022, I see between 99 and 393 such renunciation applications processed. It's a bit of a range there, but it gives at least the order of magnitude.
Thank you.
7:45 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Just to clarify.... Between 2018 and 2022, you said, there was a range of 99 to 303. Is that what you said?
7:45 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes. There were 1,362 applications to renounce citizenship processed in total—that's decisions—and in any one of those five years, there was a range of between 99 renunciation applications processed in 2020 as compared to 393 applications processed in 2022.
7:45 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Do you have any idea, Ms. Girard, as to why, all of a sudden, it went up so much in 2022? Was that potentially a carryover from COVID issues? Do you have any idea?
7:45 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
We don't have any information to that effect. It may vary depending on individual circumstances and the desire to come forward to pursue an application and so on and so forth.
Thank you.
7:50 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
If these changes are enacted as they are, what's your feeling as to where those numbers will go? Are they going to be higher, or are they going to be, more or less, the same kinds of numbers? What's the department's view on that?
7:50 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
It's not possible to estimate with any certainty, but the numbers that I've quoted for those five years are not very significant by any stretch. It's reasonable to anticipate that we may have less or have similar volumes and that the volumes would remain in the hundreds per year. That would not be an unreasonable assumption.
7:50 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
With regard to the 1,362, were those acceptances, or were those requests?
May 31st, 2023 / 7:50 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
That was the total processed. Of those 1,362 applications to renounce processed, 1,262 were approved. Nine were refused, and 91 were withdrawn. My colleague confirms to me that these are statistics that we've recently shared with the committee.
7:50 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Thank you.
That's very interesting. What would be the reason for a refusal? I'm struggling to understand that.
7:50 p.m.
Director General, Citizenship Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
The renunciation applications are covered under section 9 of the Citizenship Act. The first thing is that someone who wishes to renounce their citizenship has to be a citizen of another country, or if their application is accepted by Canada and our department, they will become a citizen of a country other than Canada. That's in line with our obligations to not make our citizens stateless. To sort of rejoin our previous conversation.... They have to not be a minor, not be prevented from understanding the significance of renouncing their citizenship by reason of a disability and also not be residing in Canada.
Those would be reasons for refusal. If someone was residing in Canada, we wouldn't be in a position to accept the application, for example, or if the person didn't hold another citizenship, we wouldn't be in a position to accept.
7:50 p.m.
Conservative
Brad Redekopp Conservative Saskatoon West, SK
Can you just explain again the disability one? I don't quite understand that one.