Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's again a deep honour and privilege to be here before this committee. Today I thought I'd share with the committee an intelligence report from the Canada Border Services Agency migration intelligence section in the intelligence operations and analysi

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, having an authorized third party intervene creates added value operationally to the citizenship determination process. So on the one hand the federal government has created a professional organization that is subject to regulatory oversight. That's a good thing. And on the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, it is a good feature. Many professionals choose between two paths, one being that their client has the right to a process, and the other involving standing and examining the contents of the client's application. But, yes, indeed, sir, I see no harm here, only benefits to C

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, we have a criminal justice system to provide case-specific adjudications and to determine whether a criminal sanction should be imposed. What does that have to do with immigration and citizenship, unless you move the clock back several hundred years and tinker with the bani

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For the discussion to be forward-looking and not backward-looking via the rear-view-mirror, I need to underscore the practical importance of the Canadian income tax return when it hits residency fraud. People will be Al-Caponed instead of processed within an intent to commit frau

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes, exactly, and that's why we need to strengthen the importance of Canadian citizenship when it comes to the process of detaching a person from Canadian citizenship. If it's hard to get, it should be hard to take away.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'm not in favour of introducing the medieval law of banishment into our Canadian legal system, so on general principle, I have serious concerns. Also the door is open in future to parliaments of other countries getting their hands on Canadian citizens. A citizenship bill is now

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. Notwithstanding the claims made by the minister and the Department of Justice, I think there is indeed an issue. The absence of an appeal process is very egregious and you can be sure that judges are going to consider that seriously. I do not share the legal opinion of the

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think those in line should abandon their applications and apply under the new system, where they satisfy physical presence requirements. Be first in, first out. Yes, the tools needed to expedite citizenship processing are now present in the proposed legislation. I can see, ope

Citizenship and Immigration committee  People who are stuck and truly believe in the democratic process we have in this country should bear in mind, by way of example, the lost Canadians. It took time. It took resources. Justice has been done. Congratulations to the lost Canadians!

Citizenship and Immigration committee  That, in spirit, is precisely the direction to be taken. I have some concerns regarding the process. It has been pointed out that the shortcomings of the absence of an appeal is something to be seriously considered as well. Intent to reside is one heck of a slippery phrase. At wh

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'm delighted to appear, if remotely, before the honourable committee with apologies that I could not be physically present. Having said that, I'd like to focus on and highlight the dramatic and pragmatic positive changes to the citizenship act and poi