Sign petition: New Citizenship Act Bill C-24 discrimination

[Migrain]

Although for some of you this may be still a long way ahead but the new Citizenship Act Bill C-24 is going to affect all foreign temporary workers and students. In fact it discriminates against our group as we are the only group which will be affected by twice as long extension period.
I have started a petition on Change.Org here: 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#

Once we have enough support and signatures I will plan to take it to media, MP's and House of Commons. Your help s crucial, please sign, forward and share on Facebook, Twitter as much as you can.

Thank you
Alex

Could you please provide the clause in Bill C-24 that would impose this requirement.

I also understand that this requirement would be made retroactive (i.e. even if already have PR, the time as a student or TFW prior to receiving PR would not be counted towards citizenship.

According to my understanding, I find the Bill logically flawed. If Canada issues study permits to attract international students (and their high tuition fees vs. Canadian citizens or those with PR) in the hopes of retaining that knowledge in Canada with credentials acknowledged in Canada, then it is paradoxical if the government won't then allow those eligible years to be counted towards citizenship. If you want to attract the brightest then one would think you would want to ensure they stay to use that new found knowledge to the benefit of Canadian society.

And as I stated in an earlier post, the privileges of PR are not the same as those for citizenship (availability of government employment with security requirements, as one example).



Thanks

 

[mead]

lot of people here have the 3rd world country attitude "why bother to raise my voice if it doesnt affect me..i dont care" . I dont understand all the negative posts about this issue.
without citizenship u cant vote. not wanting to be a citizen means u dont care about voting .....

 

[sashali78]

lot of people here have the 3rd world country attitude "why bother to raise my voice if it doesnt affect me..i dont care" . I dont understand all the negative posts about this issue.
without citizenship u cant vote. not wanting to be a citizen means u dont care about voting .....

I guess it will pass time before people start to understand the meaning of democracy and their right as residents of Canada (or any other Western country)...

 

[harry_aussie]

Let these guys finish their studies and become PR's and when they are just to apply for Citizenship, voila! the residency requirement increases to 10 years after PR. Let's see which side of fence they stand then.

 

[itstime]

without citizenship u cant vote. not wanting to be a citizen means u dont care about voting .....

It would be better to change the law so that PRs can vote at least at a municipal level in regards to who is going to be mayor or sit on council, than to shorten the requirements for citizenship.

 

[mead]

It would be better to change the law so that PRs can vote at least at a municipal level in regards to who is going to be mayor or sit on council, than to shorten the requirements for citizenship.

lol u mean make PR equivalent to citizenship? that is funny so u want to shorten citizenship even further ?do u understand the differences? do u know why a PR cannot vote? u mean to say give rights to a citizen of another country to vote in canada ..haha
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp

 

[sashali78]

We have reached over 2300 signatures over the last 96 hours. Our next goal is 5000 signatures.
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/senate-of-canada-house-of-commons-mp-s-do-not-allow-the-discrimination-of-former-foreign-workers-and-students-by-the-new-canadian-citizenship-bill-c-24

Those wishing to volunteer , please sign up at : FightTheBillC24@outlook.com

Thanks,
Alex

 

[torontosm]

It would be better to change the law so that PRs can vote at least at a municipal level in regards to who is going to be mayor or sit on council, than to shorten the requirements for citizenship.

Why don't they just do away with the whole PR thing and just hand everyone that applies a Canadian passport?

 

[luisfigo]

Great to see so many signatures. We need more.
one question to the moderator of this group: How can we get our voices to the media (CBC, etc..)? shall we demonstrate somewhere to get attention?
So far i haven't seen any debate on TV/Radio around these changes.
Thanks,

 

[mead]

Great to see so many signatures. We need more.
one question to the moderator of this group: How can we get our voices to the media (CBC, etc..)? shall we demonstrate somewhere to get attention?
So far i haven't seen any debate on TV/Radio around these changes.
Thanks,

change.org is a very strong tool if we get over 10k signatures I am sure media will pick it up. Also it is not a bad idea to start a facebook group. Also sending change.org petition every step(5k,10k signatures) to the concerned authorities will help too
I not the moderator just someone who has used change.org to make a change.

 

[sashali78]

Great to see so many signatures. We need more.
one question to the moderator of this group: How can we get our voices to the media (CBC, etc..)? shall we demonstrate somewhere to get attention?
So far i haven't seen any debate on TV/Radio around these changes.
Thanks,

I have a few media contacts, as well running a volunteer group which will be contacting many regional MPs. We are now working on our message and action plan. However, we do need more signatures, so any help will be much valuable.

 

[sashali78]

change.org is a very strong tool if we get over 10k signatures I am sure media will pick it up. Also it is not a bad idea to start a facebook group. Also sending change.org petition every step(5k,10k signatures) to the concerned authorities will help too
I not the moderator just someone who has used change.org to make a change.

There is no concern with intent of living in Canada forever. If you don't have the intent to live in Canada why would you want Canadian citizenship? I fully supportive of the Bill on this matter. The other part is that the life is unpredictable and life circumstances can change so ANY Canadian including the naturalized ones should be able to accommodate their personal needs. Anyhow, this part will not pass through as it is opposed to Canadian Charter of Rights.

Here is what Canadian (real Canadian) are saying about the removal of temporary residence counting towards citizenship though:

David Evans SACKVILLE, CANADA : "This just doesn't make sense economically. When we have an aging population and a shrinking tax base we should be trying to retain workers and students from abroad that have already been living and studying/working in Canada."

Janine Brophy ST. JOHN'S, CANADA: "I have friends who live in Canada on temporary work and study permits, and they are injecting talent and diversity into our economies in a much-needed way. One of these students recently was on a team with me to represent our university at an international competition. He was chosen as 1 of 4 students, out of the entire student body, because he brought skills that no other student had. Bills like this will only serve to alienate these great people from participating in what our great country has to offer."

Nicolae Braghis CALGARY, CANADA: "It is just unfair. They paid taxes and were part of the community. No credit for those years is like stealing their biggest dream of becoming Canadians. "Yes guys, just wait other 4 years and maybe, just maybe we won`t change the law again"."

Isabelle Levesque MONTRéAL, CANADA: "Workers and students from foreign countries are the people who have the most positive impact on our economy"

Marianne van den Heuvel STRATFORD, CANADA: "Although I am Canadian-born, my parents were immigrants. They left their family, friends and everything they knew to start a new life here. It was terribly difficult in the first ten years, establishing a new business, raising a family and learning to become part of a new community. There are enough roadblocks set up for people trying to immigrate, why add more bureaucracy and more hoops to jump through once they are here and functioning as part of our society? What is the rationale?"

Read more and sign at:
https://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/canada-parliament-do-not-allow-discrimination-of-former-foreign-workers-and-international-students-by-new-canadian-citizenship-bill-c-24

 

[P2D2]

Thank you sashali78 (Alexander Linkov) for this very important and useful initiative! I fully agree with your logic and reasoning. Stealing all the years and months we spent legally as a valid temporary resident, foreign worker, student, or refugee in Canada is plain and simply WRONG! Why should all that time be stolen from us? Did we not pay taxes, contribute to the Canadian economy, and integrate into Canadian society? Did we not do our part all those years? So why should all that time be stolen from us and not count at all towards citizenship?

In addition, there is no evidence that the processing times for citizenship applications will actually reduce from the current processing time of 2 to 3 years down to 1 month, or at least 1 year.

This is a very slippery slope down the path of discrimination against valid temporary residents, foreign workers, students and refugees in Canada. Who knows if they won't increase the residency requirement to 10 years or 30 years in future? Who is to stop them then, if they get away with it now?

I wholeheartedly support this petition.

 

[torontosm]

Thank you sashali78 (Alexander Linkov) for this very important and useful initiative! I fully agree with your logic and reasoning. Stealing all the years and months we spent legally as a valid temporary resident, foreign worker, student, or refugee in Canada is plain and simply WRONG! Why should all that time be stolen from us? Did we not pay taxes, contribute to the Canadian economy, and integrate into Canadian society? Did we not do our part all those years? So why should all that time be stolen from us and not count at all towards citizenship?
This is a very slippery slope down the path of discrimination against valid temporary residents, foreign workers, students and refugees in Canada. Who knows if they won't increase the residency requirement to 10 years or 30 years in future? Who is to stop them then, if they get away with it now?

No one is "stealing" anything from you. When you arrived in Canada as a student, refugee, TFW or any other visitor, you arrived as just that. You were not entering as a permanent resident on track for citizenship. You were not subject to the same criteria for qualification as permanent residents, and nor did your application undergo the same scrutiny. Your application was processed in a matter of months rather than years since you were being allowed into the country on a TEMPORARY basis for a specific purpose. No one guaranteed you eventual PR or citizenship, and no one ever said that the rules won't change.

And if the government changes the path to 10 years or 30 years in the future, that is their right. This government, like all other governments, serves its citizens rather than temporary visitors.

 

[harry_aussie]

When you arrived in Canada as a student, refugee, TFW or any other visitor, you arrived as just that. What do you mean by just that ?. Yes, we get the visa we apply for. So no one has done a favour.



You were not entering as a permanent resident on track for citizenship.I beg to differ, who invented visa category like CEC and what is the purpose and intent of that visa.

You were not subject to the same criteria for qualification as permanent residents, and nor did your application undergo the same scrutiny. Yes, i agree with you that students don't have to undergo extensive security clearances but what is the difference between the life of a person living in Canada on a student visa, a work visa or a PR. You do the same things in normal life, don't you ?

Your application was processed in a matter of months rather than years since you were being allowed into the country on a TEMPORARY basis for a specific purpose.Processing is not in the hands of students or PR's. I personally know a guy who's PR was granted in 4 months and on the other hand another student guy was delayed for 4. 5 months. Your words are irrelevant and do not gel with the situation. No, one is asking for the change of intent or specific purpose of the visa. Students comply with the conditions of their visa i.e. Study in Canada and gain valuable Canadian experience. All this makes them eligible to apply for PR, which is an option provided by Canada and not by students themselves.

No one guaranteed you eventual PR or citizenship, and no one ever said that the rules won't change.I agree with you on this but hey again students never made or invented these pathways to permanent residency. Canada wanted to retain the talent and had permanent residency to offer so the offer well accepted by the workers or students.

And if the government changes the path to 10 years or 30 years in the future, that is their right. This government, like all other governments, serves its citizens rather than temporary visitors. Yes, it is well in the rights of a government to change or ammend laws and no one has a problem with that. The problem here is the double standards of the govenment of Canada.The proposed law is to strenghten the value of Canadian citizenship(sounds very good and fair and i agree to the intent in general) and one of the ways to do that is to live in Canada and be a part of what Canada has to offer. Now, it is hard to under stand that how students or workers fail in this pre requisite ?. Students go to universities or colleges and share knowledge with Canadians, they make Canadian friends and be a part of the Canadian society. Students or workers buy goods in Canada and go to malls where all Canadians go, they also go to same places to enjoy where Canadians go. Same kind of public transport is used and same level of taxes are being paid. The intent is not to question the rights of Canada but the "fair part" of certain laws and this can be done by anyone associated to Canada, whether the person is a worker, student or a Citizen. I 'am not opposing the increase of residence requirement from 3 to 4 years but i do have problems with Canada not recognizing the stay within its's own boundaries. So to gain Canadian experience or to feel how living in Canada is, should we move to Timbuktu ?.