Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 3rd, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 63 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

Today, pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, November 16, 2022, the committee will resume consideration of Bill S-245, an act to amend the Citizenship Act, granting citizenship to certain Canadians.

I want to thank the officials who are here today. We are joined by Nicole Girard, director general, citizenship policy; Uyen Hoang, senior director, legislation and program policy; Erika Schneidereit, counsel, legal services; Allison Bernard, senior policy analyst; and Judy Dewan, senior analyst.

Thank you, all. Thank you for providing us this support as we go through clause-by-clause on this.

We are continuing our clause-by-clause study of the bill. When we left, we were on clause 1. NDP-2 was just voted on and was defeated.

I'll remind you that since NDP-2 has been defeated, amendments NDP-7, NDP-10, NDP-11 and NDP-13 cannot be moved, since they refer to paragraph 3(1)(s), which would have been created by NDP-2.

We will begin with NDP-3.

Ms. Kwan, would you like to move it?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I will move NDP-3.

This amendment is really related to the package on the second generation cut-off rule. It extends citizenship to the second generation born abroad and subsequent generations, and restores those impacted since the second generation cut-off rule was enacted back in 2009.

Included in this, I should just point out that it also recognizes the connections test and that it would apply to both the parents and the grandparents.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

Ms. Kayabaga.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'd like to propose subamendments to NDP-3.

I'd like to move that NDP-3, proposing to amend clause 1 of Bill S-245 by adding text after line 14 on page 1, be amended by substituting the following for the words “(g), (h)” in the proposed paragraph 3(3)(a):

(g), (g.1), (h)

and by substituting the following for the words “(g), (h)” in the proposed subparagraph 3(3)(a.01)(i):

(g), (g.1), (h)

That was (a). Then:

(b) if the person was born before April 17, 2009 and, at any time, only one of the person's parents was a citizen and that parent was a citizen under any of the following provisions, or both of the person's parents were citizens under any of the following provisions:

and:

(2.3) Subsection 3(3) of the act is amended by striking out “or” at the end of paragraph (a.2), by adding “or” at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following after paragraph (b):

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Are you done, Ms. Kayabaga?

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

No, I'm not done, Madam Chair. Just give me a second, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Let her finish and then we will....

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I'm not done.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm sorry.

Going back to the first—

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Just wait one second, Ms. Kayabaga.

Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

[Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Bloc, Lac-Saint-Jean, QC]

Madam Chair, I believe the French version was not provided to the interpreters.

Personally, I didn't receive the subamendments text in French. Interpreters have trouble following discussions if they don't have the texts on hand.

Would it be possible to get them?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Kayabaga, do you have them in both official languages?

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Madam Chair, for NDP-3, the first amendment I'm making is a really small amendment—

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Do you have it in both languages?

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Yes, we do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Okay.

I will suspend the meeting for two minutes, so that the clerk can get that in French to Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

I call the meeting back to order.

Ms. Kayabaga has the floor. She is proposing some amendments to NDP-3.

Go ahead, Ms. Kayabaga.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just for the sake of this not being super confusing to everyone, I'll put one amendment on the floor at a time.

I'll go back to the first one I was proposing. I would like to move that NDP-3, proposing to amend clause 1 of Bill S-245 by adding text after line 14 on page 1, be amended by substituting the following for the words “(g), (h)” in proposed paragraph 3(3)(a):

(g), (g.1), (h)

and by substituting the following for the words “(g), (h)” in proposed subparagraph 3(3)(a.01)(i):

(g), (g.1), (h)

This is a minor change, Madam Chair. The bill gives citizenship to all those impacted by the former section 8. These individuals will now be represented in the act under new paragraph 3(1)(g.1). We needed to add (g.1) to NDP-3 in two places to add them to the list of the people who can't automatically pass citizenship to children born abroad without substantial connection.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you.

We have an amendment proposed by Ms. Kayabaga to NDP-3. The amendment is on the floor.

Yes, Mr. Redekopp.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

Just so that I understand, and I'll attempt to read it back to you, basically you're saying that this adds a new section because of what we did before. It prevents somebody from passing on citizenship to a new class of person.

Is that what you said?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Go ahead, Ms. Kayabaga.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

It adds a reference to the—

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I'm sorry. I should ask the officials—but go ahead.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Go ahead.

[Brad Redekopp, Conservative, Saskatoon West, SK]

I'm sorry, guys. I forgot you were there.