Denial of right to vote for lawful citizens

[sukh49]

Please letme know if you wish to pitch in money(if needed) to file a lawsuit against Canadian Government for Denial of lawful citizen's right to vote . It is frustrating that after paying taxes and after being part of society for lawful amount of time, I cannot vote and exercise other rights of citizen.

I am writing this out of frustration regarding the delays (upto 2-4years years) by current Canadian government in granting the citizenship documents to fully eligible citizens under law. I am a "fully eligible", citizen and have my application for citizenship pending with Canada Citizenship Agency. While it is pending, I cannot vote my voice in elections even though I am a "fully eligible" citizen of Canada per Canadian Law. It is taking 2 years at minimum, and unto 4 years, to grant the citizenship document to a citizen.

“Fully eligible” citizen is actually a wrong term I am using, because in fact I am a real citizen of Canada but the government is just not giving me the right to take citizenship test and hand me the document.

These years and years of processing citizenship applications is causing denial of right to vote for thousands of citizens - yes, they are citizens because they meet the requirements per law. Government is just not giving them the documents and essentially they are denying the right of a citizen to vote - which is against the constitution.

Lack of resources to process applications is not a justified reason to deny a citizen his/her citizenship documents. They can charge more fees to process application, but they have to give me my citizenship document to let me exercise my constitutional right to vote.

---------------------------

I am exploring options to file lawsuit and contacting respective Civil Liberties Associations. I applaud Rocco Galati, a lawyer who is fighting for constitutional rights by his own money and time. In this case we might have to hire somebody until unless CanadaVisa can support the cause.

Anybody has any other ideas please letme know. Also, please indicate if you are willing to pitch in money for this cause.... Remember, You dont get if you dont try. You have freedom of speech and right to fight for what is right. That is why you want to be a Canadian

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Let's be VERY clear: you are NOT a lawful Canadian citizen. There is no such term as "fully eligible citizens under law" and the government of Canada is under NO OBLIGATION to give you "the right to take citizenship test and hand [you] the document."

Until citizenship is officially granted by the government of Canada, you are a still a PR. The fact that you meet the requirements to apply for citizenship or the fact that you have submitted a citizenship application does not in any way grant you some form of "implied citizenship".

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows citizens to vote. You are not a citizen and therefore do not have the right to vote, so the government is not denying you anything.

 

[Ralph82]

Let's be VERY clear: you are NOT a lawful Canadian citizen. There is no such term as "fully eligible citizens under law" and the government of Canada is under NO OBLIGATION to give you "the right to take citizenship test and hand [you] the document."

Until citizenship is officially granted by the government of Canada, you are a still a PR. The fact that you meet the requirements to apply for citizenship or the fact that you have submitted a citizenship application does not in any way grant you some form of "implied citizenship".

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows citizens to vote. You are not a citizen and therefore do not have the right to vote, so the government is not denying you anything.

Yeah!!! make sense.

 

[scylla]

Out of curiosity, is there any precedence for this?

In other words, are there countries where voting is a citizenship benefit and which allow you to vote once you've applied for citizenship but before citizenship has been officially conferred?

 

[scylla]

It is taking 2 years at minimum, and unto 4 years, to grant the citizenship document to a citizen.

Oh - and just as an FYI, people are getting through in far less than 2 years now (under a year in fact). Granted, it takes a lot (lot) longer for others. But the minimum is definitely not 2 years - it's a few months now.

 

[slx]

Oh - and just as an FYI, people are getting through in far less than 2 years now (under a year in fact). Granted, it takes a lot (lot) longer for others. But the minimum is definitely not 2 years - it's a few months now.

Just FYI, some of us, me included, are waiting to get a citizenship test for more than 3 years.

 

[blueshirt]

There are other duties as well other than voting being a Canadian citizen. Like contributing to the society through job/volunteering/ keeping community clean and crime free, have patience and respect others in society.
I see lot of patriotism or let me say pre-patriotism before acquiring citizenship and once one is acquired citizenship people just fly of and disappear with the excuse that for better job and prospects they have to move on in life. There is nothing to hide it is human tendency and majority think of citizenship of convenience. Its only the born and having getting educated here they can be considered as being a real Canadian by mind thoughts and soul. My words are harsh but its just a discussion and opinion and it can vary person to person

 

[era1521]

Please letme know if you wish to pitch in money(if needed) to file a lawsuit against Canadian Government for Denial of lawful citizen's right to vote . It is frustrating that after paying taxes and after being part of society for lawful amount of time, I cannot vote and exercise other rights of citizen.

I am writing this out of frustration regarding the delays (upto 2-4years years) by current Canadian government in granting the citizenship documents to fully eligible citizens under law. I am a "fully eligible", citizen and have my application for citizenship pending with Canada Citizenship Agency. While it is pending, I cannot vote my voice in elections even though I am a "fully eligible" citizen of Canada per Canadian Law. It is taking 2 years at minimum, and unto 4 years, to grant the citizenship document to a citizen.

“Fully eligible” citizen is actually a wrong term I am using, because in fact I am a real citizen of Canada but the government is just not giving me the right to take citizenship test and hand me the document.

These years and years of processing citizenship applications is causing denial of right to vote for thousands of citizens - yes, they are citizens because they meet the requirements per law. Government is just not giving them the documents and essentially they are denying the right of a citizen to vote - which is against the constitution.

Lack of resources to process applications is not a justified reason to deny a citizen his/her citizenship documents. They can charge more fees to process application, but they have to give me my citizenship document to let me exercise my constitutional right to vote.

---------------------------

I am exploring options to file lawsuit and contacting respective Civil Liberties Associations. I applaud Rocco Galati, a lawyer who is fighting for constitutional rights by his own money and time. In this case we might have to hire somebody until unless CanadaVisa can support the cause.

Anybody has any other ideas please letme know. Also, please indicate if you are willing to pitch in money for this cause.... Remember, You dont get if you dont try. You have freedom of speech and right to fight for what is right. That is why you want to be a Canadian

Canadian Citizenship is a privilege not a right!!!

 

[Mary2009]

Please let me know if you wish to pitch in money(if needed) to file a lawsuit against Canadian Government for

sukh49 ... I understand your frustration...
I know that you (and many others in and outside this forum) have been waiting for their citizenship, but let me ask you this did you research/discuss this lawsuit with a real lawyer?

I mean, do you have solid grounds for going with a fight with Canadian Government over this?

Not sure if this happened before... but there is first time for everything!

Two Points to be careful about:
1- Such a lawsuit will take a lot of time and costs a lot (money, time & frustration).
2- Not sure when have you applied for citizenship... but I have a feeling that due to the length of legal procedures, It could be more feasible to wait a bit more (not sure how much more), rather than going into a fight with someone who has an open-budget for legal lawsuits (Not sure... but I guess Canada's preparation for lawsuits is a bit more than "Individuals" ?

Again... i understand your frustration... but I urge you to rethink this...

Good luck with whatever decision you decide.
Mary

 

[brbr]

lol I am waiting for PMM to chime in, it'll be hilarious

 

[Mary2009]

Let's be VERY clear: you are NOT a lawful Canadian citizen. There is no such term as "fully eligible citizens under law" and the government of Canada is under NO OBLIGATION to give you "the right to take citizenship test and hand [you] the document."

Until citizenship is officially granted by the government of Canada, you are a still a PR. The fact that you meet the requirements to apply for citizenship or the fact that you have submitted a citizenship application does not in any way grant you some form of "implied citizenship".

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows citizens to vote. You are not a citizen and therefore do not have the right to vote, so the government is not denying you anything.

canuck_in_uk I partially agree/disagree with you

Well... sukh49 is not a citizen yet... so he cannot vote, and has no voting rights as of his current status.

However... Canadian government IS OBLIGATED by Constitution & Laws to treat everyone equally (including permanent residents applying for Citizenship)...

So... if sukh49 (or sukh49's Lawyer) can prove that Canadian Government (for some reasons) didn't treat his application as equally as other applications (in terms of requests, requirements, adequate processing time...etc) and neglected his application, then I guess that he has a good case here.

I'm not sure when did sukh49 apply for citizenship... but if it passed 36 months (80% of Non-routine cases as of writing this), then this would be another positive addition to strengthen his case.

Again, I'm against getting in a legal fight with ANY government, unless its totally unavoidable.... ;D

In all cases, I don't think that there is a judge who will order the Canadian Government to grant a citizenship right away... however, judge would blame the Government (if they are at fault), and this may/may not lead to indemnity (depending on the damage caused by Government not treating someone as equally as it should).

But the fact is... you can & should claim to be treated fairly & equally in case the government (represented by officers) are excising unfair power of authority affecting your rights.

This is just my $0.02 .. I'm not a lawyer
Mary

 

[zardoz]

IMHO, the only "right" that this delusional PR has, is to apply for a "writ of mandamus".

 

[Michels]

Guys

As said above, the Canadian citizenship is a privilege, the government is not obliged to anything!
Why the rush to vote? if you miss this one you still have the next one

 

[BLT]

IMO, the root of the problem in citizenship application is lack of transparency. For example, how could CIC states in their website that processing time is 24 months while there are many people getting it in less than 6 months. This 18 months difference will turn things into wild-opinion-game.
Every application is unique on it's own. One's condition cannot be compared to other's. But it won't take 18 extra months just to run an additional check, let alone 30 months (non routine). Even repetitive DNA test won't take this long ;D. And I have read about a husband who applied in March, hasn't gotten anything. But his wife who applied in June already got the test. Both 2014. In this case, both application should be similar and comparable. I come to a conclusion that the speed of processing depends more on the individual who is processing it. If you are an alien from planet Mars and being processed by an alien from planet Pluto who doesn't like the alien from planet Mars, you would end-up waiting so so so long, because he/she would keep pushing my-own-kind's application first. (I hope you know what I mean). And again because of no-transparency, nobody can control this. Everything is kept secret. And people are starting to use imagination to determine about what's going on with their delayed application.
It's true that citizenship is a privilege, not a right. But in any institution especially government institution, there must be clear rules of how thing's are done. It's not like because this is privilege, so it depends on personal mood or becomes a lottery game. Anyway, citizenship applicants are also tax-payers, residents who follow Canadian rules and law, not war captives.

 

[zardoz]

If the processing time estimate of 24 months for citizenship applications is calculated on the same basis as other figures offered by CIC, it reflects the time taken historically to process 80% of submitted applications. The remaining 20% of applications will take more than this time to process, sometimes much more. These quoted estimated times also apply only to cases where the application is "routine". Therefore, some applications will be processed in a few months and still be part of the 80% group. 24 months is not a promise, it's a statistic.