Citizenship and Immigration committee  The way the bill is structured, and it's structured this way intentionally, is to leave the option to the parent to either apply for a grant of citizenship or to apply for a permanent resident status for the child. The reason is that in some cases the parent may want to maintain

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's conceivable that someone might want to do that. Clearly, we would encourage them to make the choice, because it would be a lot less work for them not to have to fill in applications under both provisions.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The short answer is no. The Citizenship Act is about making people citizens and, by doing so, giving them the right to enter. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act--I'm being rough here--is about allowing individuals to become permanent residents, and therefore they can co

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Perhaps I can explain a little bit more of the context of the Immigration Appeal Division in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. There are multiple clauses in that piece of legislation, and a number of provisions in the immigration and refugee protection regulations spell

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The authority for the Governor in Council to make regulations under the citizenship regulations flows from section 27 of the Citizenship Act, and there would be no regulatory-making authority. Likewise, IRPA includes a number of different regulatory-making provisions, but none of

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I would have to agree that the two ways of doing it are either amending IRPA or having a much more dramatic amendment to the Citizenship Act that would involve amending many different provisions of the act and would potentially lead to issues about the motion being inadmissible.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Perhaps, Mr. Chair, I can clarify that the Immigration Appeal Division does indeed currently look at--

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The vast majority of these cases in the adoption context are for young children, and the overwhelming majority of those are approved. The refusals tend to be for individuals who are much older, and they're in the context of adoptions of convenience. I believe that the total app

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The only way I can conceive of such an amendment would run up against the point the parliamentary secretary was making--that after second reading, such a provision would be outside the normal procedures of Parliament. We're obviously not the parliamentary p

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for not asking that question. We have reviewed this proposed amendment and have had discussions with the Immigration and Refugee Board on it. On the analysis they have given us, they feel that this amendment is incomplete. It does not provide the kind of p

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. In working on Bill C-14 we have consulted quite extensively with all the provincial governments, and particularly with the Government of Quebec, in crafting this particular clause. As drafted in Bill C-14, it would include a safeguard to ensure that adoptio

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That provision is replicated in proposed paragraph 5.1(1)(d) when it also refers to adoptions of convenience, which would be the case for other adoptions. So this clause is not suggesting that there are more problems with adoptions of convenience of individuals destined for Quebe

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I guess the response would just reiterate the same point, and that is that within the citizenship context, we need to look at reducing the distinction as much as possible. That is, again, the purpose of the bill. Treating these adopted children, giving them a kind of citizenship

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There are no criminal or security checks in this bill for these adoptees, so there's no mechanism for it. There's no requirement for a transitional provision. None of the adoptees who fall under Bill C-14 are subject to criminal or security prohibitions.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, because it would be inappropriate to have those prohibitions and not have them for natural-born children. We want to make adoptees and natural-born children as close as possible.