Citizenship and Immigration committee  We would anticipate that the vast majority of applicants would be dealt with by a citizenship officer under this model that's proposed. It may be in the order of a couple of thousand cases that the citizenship judge may need to look at on an annual basis because the officer, on the face of the evidence that is there, may not be satisfied that the residence requirement is met.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Citizenship officers are independent decision-makers now. They decide in the range of about 100,000 citizenship applications that deal with certain matters, including proofs of citizenship, adoption cases, and grants of citizenship to minors. They already make those decisions guided by criteria under the law, as they would be under the measures proposed in the bill.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll start with your last question first. In line with these other like-minded countries that already have these powers, it would be the minister who would decide, or a delegate if the minister decides—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Under the bill, the requirements for language and knowledge would apply to those up to the age of 64. From 65 and up they wouldn't apply.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, that's absolutely correct. Canada is one of the few countries, as part of our study, that we identified that don't have this ability to revoke that's proposed in Bill C-24. For example, like-minded countries like Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, all have such authority, as do most European countries that we looked at.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We certainly have now and would have under Bill C-24 accommodations for persons who may experience different difficulties, whether it's a learning disability, whether it's a speech impairment, whether the individual may be deaf. Those people can self-identify now at the start of the process, and they do.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's quite right. In fact the measures proposed in Bill C-24 would make us more comparable with those like-minded countries. For example, the U.S. requires those requirements to be met for up to age 65. For the U.K., it's up to age 64.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For Australia it is 59.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for your question. You're quite right. The level for citizenship is uniform. It's CLB 4, which is basic language proficiency in English or French. However, as you mentioned, many skilled workers come in with a significantly higher level. I referred earlier to that list of acceptable evidence that applicants can provide for citizenship purposes, and that includes a test that a skilled worker may have already completed as part of their process of immigration to Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, unfortunately, as the media has reported, there are several thousand individuals across the country who are under RCMP investigation for citizenship fraud. It's in the range of 3,000 citizens and 5,000 permanent residents who are under investigation for fraud, related in most cases to residence.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Some of what has been reported as part of these large-scale investigations into residence fraud has to do with a fairly sophisticated pattern of fraud that unfortunately the department is seeing, whereby third parties are involved to help establish a fraudulent pattern of residence, with real bank accounts, and real phone records that are being used by someone else who is being paid to make withdrawals or phone calls to establish a pattern of documentation to support a person's fraudulent claim that they're here.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you for your question. Whether it's an adult now or a younger person, as proposed under the bill there is the ability now under the bill to apply for a waiver if someone is unable for some reason to meet a requirement like this, whether it's because of a disability or a health condition.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Whether it would be an adult or a young person, under the bill, with an undiagnosed learning disability, as you rightly point out, not everyone may self-identify up front. We will be looking closely at our implementation preparations to ensure that people in those circumstances will continue to be able to get access to a waiver, whether they self-identify from the get-go or whether they perhaps have sat one test and haven't been successful, when we may then need to identify them as people who may potentially need waivers.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For the intent to reside, as others on this panel have commented, it's the purpose of communicating that citizenship is for those who intend to make Canada their home.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Other than deciding on those residency cases that are referred to them and conducting citizenship ceremonies, of which there are many hundreds across the country over the course of a year, citizenship judges would also fulfill the important role of citizenship promotion, which is part of their duties now.