I put my questions to departmental officials who appeared just before this group.
I have the same concerns as the Canadian Bar Association. We don't know how this bill is going to work. In Quebec, there are specific procedures in place that are well known. There are three possible options: one for cases where the children are adopted in countries that have ratified the Convention; one for cases where the children are adopted in countries where the adoption is finalized before the child arrives in Canada; and a third one for cases where the parents become guardians, and then parents, once they have fulfilled their obligations as guardians. In Quebec, many adoptions fall into the third category.
There is also the fact that citizenship is granted prior to adoption. In our briefing notes, it says that citizenship will be granted once the case is finalized--in other words, before the provincial courts have determined that the adoption is final and official. That is the case in Quebec, because of the Civil Code.
Under the proposed legislation, could a child being granted citizenship eventually have his or her citizenship revoked? According to the bill, the federal government retains the right to intervene, but we don't know at what point the process ends. I don't know whether this applies to the other provinces, but have you looked at the Quebec model in that regard? There is a danger that the child could see his citizenship revoked at some point. That is one of the provisions of the current Citizenship Act.