Mr. Speaker, as I have been doing at every opportunity this fall, it is again my pleasure to present a petition, this one on behalf of citizens from Dorchester, Ingersol, Guelph, Ajax, London, Pickering, all from Ontario, and Saint-Léonard and Lachine from the province of Quebec.
All of the citizens wish to draw to the attention of the House that every year there are about 2,000 young children adopted from foreign countries and brought to our land. In spite of the fact that other nations, specifically the United States of America and Great Britain, grant automatic citizenship for these young children, our country does not.
Therefore the petitioners call upon Parliament to immediately enact legislation to grant automatic citizenship to those minors adopted from other countries by Canadian citizens with this citizenship being immediately granted upon the finalization of the adoption.
I note that the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration has committed to the Canadian people to introduce stand alone legislation to accomplish this, and I would hope that he would do it post-haste.