After reading the CBA’s (Canadian Bar Association) assessment of dishonourable Minister Chris Alexander’s bill C-24, I find that my reading of the bill was very close (I fail at being humble, it was bang on) to their assessment. I no longer have any doubt that the citizenship of many is now at risk.
By shifting the responsibility to the Minister in charge, and taking the decision making process away from a Federal Court judge, except in a few cases (also up to the Minister’s discretion), they greatly reduce one’s chances to appeal. According to the CBA the fundamental changes to the Canadian Citizenship Act are “unfair and discriminatory”. The CBA goes further and states that Canada’s tradition of allowing dual citizenship is “undermined if dual citizens face the prospect of banishment”. With broad grounds for citizenship revocation and a list of offenses, that can be added to (that are connected to loyalty to Canada) it seems obvious that dual citizens are being singled out. The CBA acknowledges that terrorism is one of the offenses that can cause one to lose their citizenship. So, I want to clarify again – in case you missed it the last bunch of times I’ve mentioned it – that, in the Criminal Code of Canada, amended in bill C-51, any opposition to the oil industry can be considered terrorism. By the vague wording of C-51, the Minister can declare me an enemy of the state just because I speak out against it, charge me as a terrorist, not give me a fair trial, revoke my citizenship and kick me out. Do you see the big problem here? I would become stateless; no country to go to, illegal worldwide.
Yet, it doesn’t end there. C-24 can also revoke a born Canadian citizenship if one of the parents are citizens of another country. My younger sibling isn’t safe either just because he was born here. He too can be arbitrarily found to be disloyal to Canada and have his citizenship revoked, without a trial/appeal. It doesn’t matter to our CPC overlords that he and I haven’t sought to make any secondary citizenship official. By the letter of C-24, we will be kicked out of Canada, anyway. Pre C-24 citizenship laws, the Canadian Constitution, as well as the UN’s Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (that Canada signed in 1978), stipulates that we cannot be allowed to become stateless.
There are far more details than have been mentioned here. I won’t go into all of them. The above are merely a few that sounds alarm bells, but I will share the CBA’s assessment, so you too can bone up on what our current government has gotten away with. It’s no longer us non-born Canadians that are at risk… now we all are.
Just vote ABC (anything but Conservative).
Peace