The gloves are off when it comes to a new bill being proposed by Immigration Minister Lena Diab, says Blacklock’s Reporter.
Cabinet was accused on Monday by Conservative MP Jamil Jivani of “cheapening Canadian citizenship” with Bill C-3 which would grant Canadian status to the grandchildren of citizens abroad.
“The idea that our heritage would be used against us to push us around and make us feel like we have to endorse their broken policies that have led to public trust and confidence in the immigration system being the lowest it has ever been in my lifetime, that is wild,” he told the Commons.
Conservative and Bloc Quebecois MPs have attempted to amend the bill, prompted by a 2023 court ruling.
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“This is not an immigration bill,” Diab told the Commons.
“Nor would it allow people who are strangers to pass on Canadian citizenship in perpetuity. The goal is to ensure the children of Canadians with a strong connection to our country can access citizenship by descent regardless of where they were born.”
COURT STRUCK DOWN LAW
Bill C-3 follows the Ontario Supreme Court ruling that struck a federal law limiting citizenship to only the first generation of children born to Canadians abroad.
Conservative MP Grant Jackson said the ruling should have been challenged by cabinet.
“I think it was a mistake not to appeal that Court decision,” he said.
Awarding citizenship to people who had never been to Canada was “bonkers,” said Jackson.
“I do not understand the concept of citizenship that goes on and on and on with having multiple generations who have no connection to this country and, in many cases, having barely or never been here.”
A first generation citizenship cut-off came to be after the Department of Foreign Affairs evacuated 13,270 Lebanese-Canadians from a war zone in Beirut in 2006 with a price tag of $75.8 million.
Conservative MP Michael Ma said extending citizenship to second generation offspring abroad was reckless.
“Liberals do not believe in Canada because they do not believe in our borders,” he said.
The Budget Office says Bill C-3 would create 115,000 new citizens abroad.
