Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 16th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Merci.

We're going to go another five minutes, and I'm going to give the last questions to Mr. Shory and then Mr. Calandra.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd also like to thank the department for coming out.

There were quite a few issues late last week about stateless children, for example, so we got some clarification, which is good. I have a typical example here. I became a Canadian citizen through naturalization, so I understand that if my child is born outside Canada, that child will receive Canadian citizenship automatically. Now, if we bring that child back to Canada and the child lives in Canada most of his life, or we can say that he has reasonably strong ties with Canada, but for some reason that child's child is born outside of Canada, my understanding of this bill is that now the second child has to be sponsored by my child. Once my child sponsors his or her child and then brings the child back to Canada, and through naturalization that child becomes a Canadian citizen, then if his or her child is also born outside of Canada, would that child have the same rights as my child born outside of Canada?

[Rick Stewart]

I believe in your example we're down to your great-grandchild.

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Vaughan, ON]

It's a riddle.

[Rick Stewart]

Yes.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Maurizio Bevilacqua, Liberal, Vaughan, ON]

Anyone who goes through all that should be Canadian.

[Rick Stewart]

So the short answer is indeed yes. The process of your grandchild being sponsored and naturalized in Canada will effectively deem them to have been the equivalent of born in Canada, so they will then be able to pass on to their offspring citizenship by descent if their offspring is born abroad.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

Just to clarify, are you saying that my grandchild will come to the same level as I am at today? I was naturalized.

[Rick Stewart]

Yes, your grandchild will effectively have been naturalized.

[Devinder Shory, Conservative, Calgary Northeast, AB]

I will pass the next question to Mr. Paul Calandra.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

One of the things that troubled me last week when we were here listening to one of the witnesses was the assertion by one of the members of the committee that somehow advertising was in some way connected to political ties. It was suggested, I think, that The Toronto Star, being a conservative paper, was a beneficiary of ads from your department because of its overwhelming support for our party.

When you do your advertising campaign, is it part of your protocol to look down the list of newspapers and identify them as Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, or NDP and spread out your advertising based on who supports what party?

[Rick Stewart]

I think I can assure the members of this committee that all good public servants are politically blind. When we do assessments on where to do advertising, what we're looking for is reach. We want to know where to place our limited advertising dollars in order to have the maximum impact and reach the greatest number of potential clientele. As I say, we are blind to political affiliations and considerations.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

That's what I suspected.

I wonder if you'd give me a brief comment. I want to stray a little bit. Last week in the House I had the pleasure of asking the Prime Minister a question with respect to honorary citizenship for the Aga Khan. Would you explain to me what honorary citizenship entails?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

It's way off topic, but go ahead.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

With the indulgence of the rest of the committee.

[Rick Stewart]

In a nutshell, honorary citizenship is a parliamentary privilege that is conferred by the House. It does not fall under the auspices of the Citizenship Act and it does not confer any of the rights, benefits, and privileges of formal citizenship under the act.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, but do I--

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You have time for a quick question.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

I was just going to ask how many other people had been granted honorary citizenship.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We might as well have a great finish to the morning, so if you know that, fine, and if you don't....

[Rick Stewart]

It's a small handful. It's fewer than half a dozen people, I believe.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I think it's appropriate that--

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

It's a great honour.

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair; I apologize.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Stewart, Mr. Griffith, Ms. Girard, thank you very much for coming and making your presentation to us. We will see you next time, Mr. Stewart.

We will suspend to go into in camera proceedings.

Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]