Last week, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act came into force. The Bill C-24 gives the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister the power to “revoke citizenship from dual nationals convicted of terrorism, treason and high treason, and/or spying for foreign governments.” While the revocation provisions only apply to dual nationals, the burden is on the citizen to satisfy the Minister that he or she is not a citizen of another country.  Under the new law, the only Canadians who can never lose their citizenship are those born in Canada who do not have another nationality and are not eligible to apply for another nationality. Read the official press release of the Canadian government. 

The government has created an infographic to explain the new citizenship stripping process. The main change with respect to the system previously in place is the absence of a judge to make the process “less costly and more efficient”. Some NGOs claim that this change “makes the process unfair and likely unconstitutional.” (see, e.g. the post of the British Colombia Civil Libeerties Association). 

For a more elaborate analysis of citizenship stripping legislations, consult our Forum Debate on The Return of Banishment: Do the new Denationalisation Policies Weaken Citizenship? 

In addition, the bill introduced a number of significant changes to existing naturalisation laws: 

– Residence is defined as physical residence and the length of residence required for citizenship eligibility goes up to four years out of previous six (instead of three/five years) in the previous legislation) and six months of each qualifying year.

– Permanent residents who serve for three years in the Canadian Forces need only reside for three years to qualify for citizenship. This provision actually went into force several months ago. It should be noted, however, that Canadian citizenship is a prerequisite for joining the Canadian Armed Forces. 

– Citizenship test must be written by applicants aged 14-64 (instead of 18-54).

– Candidates for naturalization must satisfy a citizenship officer that they intend to reside permanently in Canada after acquiring citizenship. Citizenship may be revoked for misrepresentation.