BREAKING NEWS Bill C-6 finally passed in HoC, Now reading in Senate

[subha_1962]

CIC news of October 11th. The key word I thought was early 2017

Changes to Support Changes to the Citizenship Act
Description of the objective

The Government has made commitments in both its election platform and the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to make changes to the Citizenship Act. Specifically, the Government committed to repeal provisions in the Citizenship Act that give the government the right to strip citizenship from dual nationals.

Bill C-6, which was introduced in Parliament on February 25, 2016, reflects those commitments. It also includes amendments to provide greater flexibility for applicants trying to meet the requirements for citizenship and some additional measures to further enhance program integrity.

A proposal will be developed to amend Citizenship Regulations (Governor in Council Authority) and Citizenship Regulations no. 2 (Ministerial Authority) to support changes to the Citizenship Act.

Enabling act: Citizenship Act
Indication of Business Impacts

There are no expected business impacts.
Public Consultation Opportunities

The public will have the opportunity to comment on a Notice of Intent to change the Citizenship Regulations no. 2, which will be posted on the departmental consultation Web page as well as the changes to the Citizenship Regulations when they are pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, anticipated by early 2017.
Departmental Contact

Teny Dikranian
Director, Citizenship Legislation and Program Policy
Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Email: Teny.Dikranian@cic.gc.ca
Telephone: 613-437-5632

 

[Dhudson]

Do we have to wait until 2017 or what? I am sorry I did not understand it if Senate pass it?
Thanks.
Regards,
DHudson.

 

[Rigly68]

I am sorry I did not understand it if Senate pass it?
Thanks.
Regards,
DHudson.

Not passed through Senate state yet.

 

[user3000]

CIC news of October 11th. The key word I thought was early 2017

Changes to Support Changes to the Citizenship Act
Description of the objective

The Government has made commitments in both its election platform and the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to make changes to the Citizenship Act. Specifically, the Government committed to repeal provisions in the Citizenship Act that give the government the right to strip citizenship from dual nationals.

Bill C-6, which was introduced in Parliament on February 25, 2016, reflects those commitments. It also includes amendments to provide greater flexibility for applicants trying to meet the requirements for citizenship and some additional measures to further enhance program integrity.

A proposal will be developed to amend Citizenship Regulations (Governor in Council Authority) and Citizenship Regulations no. 2 (Ministerial Authority) to support changes to the Citizenship Act.

Enabling act: Citizenship Act
Indication of Business Impacts

There are no expected business impacts.
Public Consultation Opportunities

The public will have the opportunity to comment on a Notice of Intent to change the Citizenship Regulations no. 2, which will be posted on the departmental consultation Web page as well as the changes to the Citizenship Regulations when they are pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, anticipated by early 2017.
Departmental Contact

Teny Dikranian
Director, Citizenship Legislation and Program Policy
Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Email: Teny.Dikranian@cic.gc.ca
Telephone: 613-437-5632

IRCC is anticipating C-6 gets through parliament by early 2017 and they will seek public opinion on when to update the rule books. Based on the public opinion they will update the rule books and then new changes will come to force. Looks like now it's certain that C-6 will come into force in early 2018.

 

[Dhudson]

IRCC is anticipating C-6 gets through parliament by early 2017 and they will seek public opinion on when to update the rule books. Based on the public opinion they will update the rule books and then new changes will come to force. Looks like now it's certain that C-6 will come into force in early 2018.

Again Liberal failed promises !

I am sorry for off-top/.

 

[meyakanor]

Again Liberal failed promises !

I am sorry for off-top/.

The Canadian Senate is not democratically elected and does not carry the mandate of the people. This senate has been known to occasionally shoot down few bills which have passed the democratically elected lower house, so no surprise here that they would try to delay this bill.

The NDP (including Mulcair), the Green party, the Liberal and the Bloc Québécois MPs (all of which were elected) all voted yes to pass this bill, so I believe that the government has done all it can to push this bill through. The Conservatives had both majority in lower and upper houses when Bill C-24 passed, so they had the leverage to just ram the bill through both houses without having to listen to any suggestions at all (this ain't the US where dissent votes are common); the situation was not at all the same.

This is why a lot of Canadians were fed up with the Senate, and some even preferred to completely do away with the upper house (I don't really agree with this though; we do need the upper house as checks and balances, but I just wish that we too would have a say on who should occupy these Senate seats).

 

[marcher]

The Canadian Senate is not democratically elected and does not carry the mandate of the people. This senate has been known to occasionally shoot down few bills which have passed the democratically elected lower house, so no surprise here that they would try to delay this bill.

The NDP, the Green party, the Liberal and the Bloc Québécois MPs (all of which were elected) all voted yes to pass this bill, so I believe that the government has done all it can to push this bill through. The Conservatives had both majority in lower and upper houses when Bill C-24 passed, so they had the leverage to just ram the bill through both houses without having to listen to any suggestions at all; the situation was not at all the same.

This is why a lot of Canadians were fed up with the Senate, and some even preferred to completely do away with the upper house (I don't really agree with this though; we do need the upper house as checks and balances, but I just wish that we too would have a say on who should occupy these Senate seats).

The question is, why didn't Justin Trudeau fill the vacant Senate seats with Liberals to ensure such an issue does not occur? In this case, I can say you cannot hate the game, but hate the player.

 

[emamabd]

The question is, why didn't Justin Trudeau fill the vacant Senate seats with Liberals to ensure such an issue does not occur? In this case, I can say you cannot hate the game, but hate the player.

With the slow government processes...it probably will take sometime to fill in those vacant seats, but yea that seems to be the right way to go, not only for this bill ...but any other bill which is of interest to the liberals.

 

[spiritsoul]

CIC news of October 11th. The key word I thought was early 2017

Changes to Support Changes to the Citizenship Act
Description of the objective

The Government has made commitments in both its election platform and the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to make changes to the Citizenship Act. Specifically, the Government committed to repeal provisions in the Citizenship Act that give the government the right to strip citizenship from dual nationals.

Bill C-6, which was introduced in Parliament on February 25, 2016, reflects those commitments. It also includes amendments to provide greater flexibility for applicants trying to meet the requirements for citizenship and some additional measures to further enhance program integrity.

A proposal will be developed to amend Citizenship Regulations (Governor in Council Authority) and Citizenship Regulations no. 2 (Ministerial Authority) to support changes to the Citizenship Act.

Enabling act: Citizenship Act
Indication of Business Impacts

There are no expected business impacts.
Public Consultation Opportunities

The public will have the opportunity to comment on a Notice of Intent to change the Citizenship Regulations no. 2, which will be posted on the departmental consultation Web page as well as the changes to the Citizenship Regulations when they are pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, anticipated by early 2017.
Departmental Contact

Teny Dikranian
Director, Citizenship Legislation and Program Policy
Citizenship and Multiculturalism Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Email: Teny.Dikranian@cic.gc.ca
Telephone: 613-437-5632

I re-read this piece of info again and again. It seems clear that the anticipated date of early 2017 has nothing to do with Bill C-6 that remains under Senates.

It's rather an additional piece of legislation (a NEW bill) that addresses further citizenship issues as was promised by the Minister to Ms Qwang at the committee time. This new bill will be consulted with the public in early 2017 prior tabling it at the HoC..... My believe.

 

[spyfy]

I re-read this piece of info again and again. It seems clear that the anticipated date of early 2017 has nothing to do with Bill C-6 that remains under Senates.

It's rather an additional piece of legislation (a NEW bill) that addresses further citizenship issues as was promised by the Minister to Ms Qwang at the committee time. This new bill will be consulted with the public in early 2017 prior tabling it at the HoC..... My believe.

No you are mistaken. This publication is about the change of immigration regulations. Regulations are not laws and don't pass through parliament. Regulations are enacted by the government directly, i.e. by the executive branch. Indeed, once the Citizenship Act is enacted, the government will have to change many regulations.

Example:
- Bill C-6 passes stating the 3/5 rule. But this bill is way to vague to be applied without detailed regulations
- The government then, in cooperation with CIC staff, enacts regulations, e.g. "Once the 3/5 rule is in force, form 1234 will be replaced by form 9876. When processing an application, the CIC officer has to follow step 1, step 2, ..."
- These regulations therefore detail how the rules in the bill are applied. Obviously, they must follow the bill which is superior to the regulation (e.g. the regulation can't change the 3/5 into a 3/6 rule or something, but it can change the layout of forms and the way the CIC departments process applications in detail)
- Probably these regulations will have an enacting clause in the sense that "Once the governor in council decided to enact provisions XXX of bill C-6, the following regulations apply..."
- That way, when the governor-in-council (read: the government, basically) decides to activate the 3/5 rule, everything is in place

 

[subha_1962]

http://www.lgc.gc.ca/eng/content/progress-chart

According to this progress chart, only bill c 6 seems to be in senate for debate and c2 which seems to be in committee stage

 

[Godzilla9]

My neighbour met with Conservative Michelle Rempel - one of the fierce opponents of Bill C-6 who sits in the HOC committee - re other matters, and asked about Bill C-6 BTW. Her opinion was that it will be enacted in 3-4 months. Don't know how much info she has to make judgement on timeline but this opinion is worth respecting.

 

[subha_1962]

Thanks, yes she is a respected conservative MP, let's hope she is right

 

[qjzhou]

My neighbour met with Conservative Michelle Rempel - one of the fierce opponents of Bill C-6 who sits in the HOC committee - re other matters, and asked about Bill C-6 BTW. Her opinion was that it will be enacted in 3-4 months. Don't know how much info she has to make judgement on timeline but this opinion is worth respecting.

Fingers cross!!!

 

[sylvia27]

So my husband is registered to take the English test CELPIP for citizenship and he received an email from them today with the following:

"Paragon Testing Enterprises has been tracking the proposed changes to the Canadian citizenship requirements. If approved, this may lead to an increase in applications for Canadian citizenship, which will lead to increased demand for language testing. Paragon believes that the changes to Canadian citizenship requirements will come into place in early 2017.

In anticipation of the increased demand, Paragon is working on increasing test sittings across Canada for the CELPIP-General LS Test. The CELPIP-General LS Test is officially designated by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) as proof of listening and speaking proficiency for Canadian citizenship. To avoid potential long wait times, we encourage those planning on taking the CELPIP-General LS Test to register early."

So there seems to be a general opinion that early 2017 is when the new chages will apply