Action plan for introducing amendments to the citizenship act bill

[proudcanadian2014]

I created this thread, so we can take collective actions to make sure there will be some amendments in the citizenship act bill to make it more efficient.

I am concerned about 1- increasing the residence requirements to 4 out of 6 years and 2- eliminating the time spent in Canada before PR.

I realized that the second point has not been mentioning in the media and even when I listened to the opposition leaders on CBC, they did not mention that. Now, I came up with a set of actions that we can take:

1-Email our MPs and let them know the parts of the bill that concern us. You can find your MP here (openparliament.ca/politicians/). At the top right, you can search using your postal code.

2-contact media (CBC, CTV, news websites) and let them know about the parts that concerns us. On Feb. 6th, immigration minister was on CBC and I was shocked about some non-important questions that were asked.

3- I saw a petition organized by another poster on the forum. We can improve and support it (sashali78, please provide the link here)

Please share what other actions we can take.

 

[proudcanadian2014]

People who will be affected twice as much by the proposed bill (Poster: meyakanor):

The four major groups that will get affected the most by this provision (eliminating non-PR days for citizenship purposes):

1. Former foreign workers who applied under:
- CEC (1 year working full-time in Canada + 1 year of processing times)
- FSW Stream 2 (2 - 3 years processing times while in Canada)
- MI1 FSW Stream 3 (1 year to qualify + 3 years for processing times; this stream is notorious for being slow)
- PNP (2 years processing times from applying for nomination to the point of grant of permanent residency)
- LCP (as scylla said, 2 years to qualify + 4 years of processing times)

2. Former international students who applied under:
- FSW PhD stream (2 years in a Canadian PhD program to qualify + 2 years of processing times)
- MI1 FSW Stream 3 (1 year to qualify + about 3 years of processing times; all those months likely will be spent in Canada)
- PNP (some provinces offer international graduate streams for Master's and PhD graduates, or Bachelor's graduates with job offer: this could take 2 years: 6 months for nomination + about 1.5 years of PR processing times)

3. Spouses or partners of Canadian citizens or PR who applied inland under the family class (compared to economic classes, family class seems to get processed much faster, but as noted by someone else here, some of these spouses were students or foreign workers before they became PR, and all those years before PR will count for nothing for citizenship purposes)

4. Those granted PR through the refugee stream (might be the one hardest hit if this amendment goes through).

 

[sashali78]

I don't really know why you had to open a new thread... But here it is:
https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/senate-of-canada-house-of-commons-mp-s-do-not-allow-the-discrimination-of-former-foreign-workers-by-the-new-canadian-citizenship-bill-c-24#

 

[links18]

No amendments will be made unless important stakeholders urge them. So who are the important stakeholders? What is the immigration of foreign NHL players will they be affected by the new residency requirements? What about professional truck drivers who have to travel in the US frequently? How will they be affected by the residency requirements?

 

[proudcanadian2014]

I think we can publicize the shortcomings of the bill and we can do that by contacting MPs and media.
I searched a little on the internet, but I could not find anything about foreign NHL players and how they will be affected.

No amendments will be made unless important stakeholders urge them. So who are the important stakeholders? What is the immigration of foreign NHL players will they be affected by the new residency requirements? What about professional truck drivers who have to travel in the US frequently? How will they be affected by the residency requirements?

 

[proudcanadian2014]

I think it is also important to talk about the feasibility of the government plan to reduce the citizenship processing time to less than 1 year.
I saw it all over the news and they use this argument to proceed with the bill.

As opposition leader mention on Feb. 6 on CBC, considering the track record of the government in processing time of applicants in the past, it seems very unlikely that they will be able to reduce the processing time to 1 year. Just take a look at this example.

Back in 2012, there was a backlog in Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) program and the government took an even stricter action than citizenship act. They passed Bill C-38 and terminated 280,000 applicants. They claimed that the new processing time will be within 12 month. However, the current processing time for CPC Ottawa is 25 months.

Unless we find the reasons for the backlog creation, terminating applicants and increasing residency requirement (to have less applicants for a period of time) will not help. As mentioned over and over again, it seems that issuing RQs and not recording exits created this backlog.
As immigration ministered mentioned on CBC, 3000 people are under investigation for fraud and the citizenship of 36 people was revoked. Compare 36 people with 100,000 people who got their citizenship in 2013.

Is the problem of backlog going to be solved just by increasing the residency requirement, taking less applicants for a period of time to clear the backlog? Or this backlog is going to be created again, if it even can be cleared.

 

[Travel Dream]

you also forget about " intend to reside". This will make two types of citizenship

 

[informatics]

you also forget about " intend to reside". This will make two types of citizenship

I do agree ! This is the most hurting clause.Just like a slave after getting citizenship.What if someone gets a scholarship at Harvard or MIT or gets a job at World Bank after getting citizenship......should he/she simply let go these lucrative opportunities to save his Canadain citizenship?

I really feel in case if this clause is passed alongwith the bill ,it will be just like having second class citizens.

 

[Travel Dream]

it will be just like having second class citizens.

Exactly. I Have intention to stay in Canada but with this bill I will have a second class citizenship.

 

[links18]

Exactly. I Have intention to stay in Canada but with this bill I will have a second class citizenship.

The intent to reside clause is probably unenforceable and purely symbolic. But it sure is a nasty symbol......

 

[us2yow]

These are the members - THE movers and shakers - who make up the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.

This is it ! the "A List".

http://www.parl.gc.ca/CommitteeBusiness/CommitteeMembership.aspx?Cmte=CIMM&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=2

A mix of NDP, Cons, and Liberals. The 2 Vice-Chairs for example are NDP and Liberal.

Everybody with an opinion on this bill should most definitely look up the "sympathetic" members from the above Committee on Twitter and voice your complaints to them right away - espclly the NDP and Liberal members on this very important committee that gets together to decide on the business of cit. and imm ! I bet you they will listen. Everyone is plugged into their Twitter account these days !

 

[vic48912]

I do agree ! This is the most hurting clause.Just like a slave after getting citizenship.What if someone gets a scholarship at Harvard or MIT or gets a job at World Bank after getting citizenship......should he/she simply let go these lucrative opportunities to save his Canadain citizenship?

I really feel in case if this clause is passed alongwith the bill ,it will be just like having second class citizens.

Frankly in my opinion, Bill C-24 should be call Homophobic charter right.....Its all euphemism for we have to put all immigrant in their place....Not sure how some one will complain about lack of integration and explain immigrants need 4 out of 6 years to fully integrate while all the years spent prior to attaining PR status is not counted...... As if immigrants suddenly dug themselve out from hole the minute they attain PR..the intent to reside is no brainer

 

[links18]

Maybe we should come up with a list of possible amendments that stakeholders could push for. Maybe we could actually get some much needed additions, rather than just deletions, as well?

1. Elimination of the intent clause
2. Elimination on prohibition of time spent as a non-PR
3. Setting up a Citizenship Ombudsman
4. Establishment of clear service standards for processing times
5. Reporting processing times for 95 percent of applicants not 80 percent

Any others?

 

[Travel Dream]

Maybe we should come up with a list of possible amendments that stakeholders could push for. Maybe we could actually get some much needed additions, rather than just deletions, as well?

1. Elimination of the intent clause
2. Elimination on prohibition of time spent as a non-PR
3. Setting up a Citizenship Ombudsman
4. Establishment of clear service standards for processing times
5. Reporting processing times for 95 percent of applicants not 80 percent

Any others?

Excellent work. Can you put also beside each item the reason. For example intent to reside will make second class citizenship and the citizens should be equal according to Canada charter of rights.
after putting the reasons we can send this to sympathetic members

 

[scylla]

5. Reporting processing times for 95 percent of applicants not 80 percent

I would drop this one. Reporting 80% of processing times is a CIC standard across the board for all application processes. It's not specific to citizenship and may muddy the waters.