Guys an article in star (dot) com
By: Chris Alexander Published on Tue Feb 11 2014
After being described in your newspaper as “callous” and “slogan-spouting” (Carol Goar, in the online version of her Jan. 26 column) for objecting to Ontario’s offer of health care to failed refugee claimants, as well as a “propagandist” (Haroon Siddiqui, Feb. 9) for introducing the first thoroughgoing reforms to Canada’s Citizenship Act, I thought it might be time for a response — and some hard facts.
Most conspicuous in all of the Star’s coverage of these issues is the failure to acknowledge there was any significant abuse in our pre-2013 asylum system and current citizenship program.
The rest of Canada begs to differ.
In 2013 alone, thanks to our reforms, asylum claims from safe countries dropped by a whopping 87 per cent — saving taxpayers $600 million in spending. (In the previous year, the United States and three European Union member states had been among the top-10 source countries for asylum claims.)
Visitors to Canada do not enjoy access to OHIP. Economic immigrants only get it after three months. We believe pre-hearing and failed claimants do not deserve it either.
Abuse of this kind, on this scale, crowds genuine refugees out of our system — from countries facing real conflict and poverty, such as Congo, Sudan, Syria and Pakistan. Our reforms to date have reduced abuse dramatically. They have allowed us to restore our focus on refugees.
As a result, Canada continues to be rated the country in the world that is the most generous to refugees by UNHCR. It has also allowed us to maintain the highest immigration levels in Canadian history — over 254,000 new permanent residents every year since 2006, compared to only 222,000 under the previous Liberal government.
On citizenship, the 1977 Act opened the door to significant abuse. Thousands of persons obtained citizenship by pretending to live in Canada, without actually having any intention to live here. Until 2009, little was done to curtail this.
The new measures will give us the power to regulate citizenship consultants and raise penalties for their involvement in fraud and misrepresentation.
We are doing this precisely because the vast majority of newcomers and Canadians are honest people who work hard and play by the rules. They know that widespread fraud diminishes the value of Canadian citizenship. To tolerate abuse would be to fail all Canadians.
The Star’s Feb. 7 editorial spoke of “mistrust.”
Citizenship is not an inalienable birthright. It was created by successive acts of Parliament. It is a privilege, to be earned by newcomers through their physical presence in Canada and their knowledge of our country and its languages.
Citizenship is a responsibility that each generation must discharge by protecting Canada, participating in our democratic institutions, helping those less fortunate and enriching our economy and society with the best we each have to give.
In cases where citizenship was fraudulently obtained, it can already be revoked. In cases where dual nationals commit gross acts of disloyalty such as treason or terrorism, or take up arms against our Canadian Forces, they too will lose it.
Each of those crimes is already punishable by stiff sentences in Canada. We will never make Canadians stateless. But we are under no obligation to maintain the Canadian citizenship of those who betray it while holding other nationalities.
According to CSIS, 130 Canadians are now fighting with extremist groups around the world, 30 of them in Syria, some of them dual nationals. We all have an interest in sending a message to such misguided individuals: they are committing serious crimes and their actions will have consequences.
The new measures in Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, are a deterrent to those who might seek to abuse our generosity, circumvent our laws or attack us in cold blood.
We are all proud of our Canadian citizenship. Let’s make it stronger than ever by ensuring new Canadians have a real connection to this country, by reducing processing times, by honouring those who serve, by eliminating fraud and abuse and by deterring disloyalty.
Our immigration and asylum system reforms have already yielded very positive results for taxpayers and refugees alike. The Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act will set this unique privilege on firm foundations for a new century.
Chris Alexander is the federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and the Conservative MP for Ajax-Pickering.
Newspaper – www the star (dot) com
