Mr. Chair, the impact of this amendment would require the minister, or the minister's delegate, to hold the hearing upon the request of an individual, an individual who is subject to a revocation process, which may lead to a less efficient process.
The government does not support this amendment because we feel it is unnecessary and is not consistent with the structure of the new revocation model. The factors that the minister must consider in deciding whether to hold a hearing will be prescribed in regulations. As a majority of revocation cases are likely to be straightforward, an oral hearing may not be necessary. The new model will improve the efficiency of the process, while ensuring fairness and a recourse mechanism for affected individuals. Under the new model, revocation decisions will be made by either the Federal Court or the minister.
Revocation cases decided by the minister would include those related to various revocation cases decided by the CIC minister or delegate. Under the new grounds, the minister would make decisions based on objective evidence where there is a conviction on a limited list of offences. The proposed system includes many safeguards, including the person's ability to make submissions and seek a judicial review. We feel those are appropriate.
As is the case for any other administrative decisions, the minister's revocation decision could be judicially reviewed with leave to the Federal Court. Decisions of the Federal Court would be subject to appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal if the Federal Court certifies a serious question of general importance.
Now it will also make it easier to revoke citizenship from those who hid crimes committed abroad, which would make it easier to get war criminals out of Canada.
For those reasons—and we could elaborate a lot further on them, but I won't in the interest of time—the government will not be supporting this amendment.