Was There Misrepresentation on Cabinet Minister's Refugee Documents?

[nope]

Canadian Conservatives are embracing the Republican style of politicking, as are conservatives around the world -- because it works. Everyone thinks they can harness it and control it -- until a particularly opportunistic individual steals the show from them, promising to make their country "grate" again (not a misspelling!)

I suspect that American-style conservatism will not play out as well in Canada, where there are multiple options for each voter and the Prime Minister can change during the course of a government's life. Much of the dysfunction of American politics comes from the limitations of the Presidential structure, in which the executive and the legislature are not necessarily sympathetic.

As for the issue at hand, I hope Dpenabill is correct, I hate the idea of stripping someone of a nationality they acquired at age 11. I agree that this mistake would only be significant if it reflects on the foundation of the refugee claim.

 

[links18]

I agree with most of what Dpenabill says above, but I would be dismayed if the reports of IRCC having a monthly quota on revocations is true. This would show that the Liberals have been disingenuous on some of their campaign promises on citizenship issues as they ran against these revocations by administrative fiat. Its troubling that Bill C-6 included nothing to remedy that and that IRCC appears to be continuing the practice under Liberal leadership.

 

[dpenabill]

I agree with most of what Dpenabill says above, but am I would dismayed if the reports of IRCC having a monthly quota on revocations is true. This would show that the Liberals have been disingenuous on some of their campaign promises on citizenship issues as they ran against these revocations by administrative fiat. Its troubling that Bill C-6 included nothing to remedy that and that IRCC appears to be continuing the practice under Liberal leadership.

I would like to see a reliable source of information about this.

It appears, for example, that IRCC has backed off at least some of the termination of refugee status actions commenced during what was essentially a purge by the Harper administration in the last year and a half of the Harper government. But the Liberals have not voiced any encouragement, let alone overt support for the Private Members Bill to amend IRPA to step-back the termination of PR status of those who immigrated as refugees if they so much as obtain a home country passport (many think they need to do so in order to apply for citizenship, given the general view that it is absolutely necessary to submit copies of a valid passport with the citizenship application, not realizing what the potential impact could be for those who obtained PR status as a protected person).

So it is difficult to discern just what policies and practices are currently in play. Note, in this regard, that the Liberals have indeed inherited scores and scores of things needing fixing. It is impossible to overstate the damage done while Harper had a majority government.

Quotas for revocation of citizenship, without some credible source for it, sounds far-fetched to me. But I have been surprised before, and too often.

 

[Coffee1981]

One of the biggest components of this debate has been left to the side. Particularly by Mr. Waldman. By that I mean the folks who straight out DID lie to citizenship officials. And not just small things like the city they were born in; but the fact they were a child molester in their country, or the guy who lied about being a refugee so he could scam welfare checks from Canada; or, my personal fav,we're only here to take Canada for a ride (I'm looking at those who used phoney consultants to rack up years of simulated residence in Canada while they were off in the UAE making millions of bucks at their day jobs). These are the people I strongly suspect the folks at IRCC are going after. Nobody gives a s*** about small fries like what happened to the Minister. They're going after the big fish. I don't feel sorry for those folks at all, and the sooner they're kicked out of the country the better in my opinion. No matter how sympathetic Lorne makes their case seem on the CBC, or how teary-eyed they are running off to the Globe and Mail. The war criminal from Bosnia doesn't deserve to enjoy "being a Canadian" for years after the truth was found out as he appeals the decision into oblivion. And frankly, if you're gutsy enough to lie on your children's citizenship application, and their citizenship gets stripped because you're an idiot, that's not really the government's problem now is it? Don't sign the document if you don't understand what "I declare that if I make a false statement my child could lose their citizenship" means.

 

[Coffee1981]

And let's also remember that you only get stripped of your PR status (read: subject to deportation) if you lied on your immigration form AND your citizenship application. If you just were shady on your cit app you go back to being a PR and can re-apply again in 10 years. Honestly, I bet that's most people: and it's not the end of the world. My next door neighbour growing up was an old American lady who never became a Canadian and lived here for 40 years. So there you go. It's honestly a slap on the wrist. CBSA doesn't deport people to dangerous countries or where the person may be persecuted. So can we all relax a bit?

Mr. Waldman: that means you with your "the government is deporting innocent children by the plane load for not putting a comma in the right place on their application."

 

[links18]

Nobody thinks such people should be able to keep their citizenship. But are there 40 to 60 such people to be found each month? Or would such a quota mean a process of diminishing returns, where to meet it IRCC gets closer and closer to that proverbial comma in the wrong place? Also, there is a little something called due process, procedural fairness, which Waldman is right to defend, even if he is doing it in a sensationalist way.

 

[Coffee1981]

If Waldman's "1,000 cases in the queue" is right, and the RCMP bust up a crooked consultant here and there, there's a ton of work to tackle before IRCC gets to "hyphen and apostrophe" levels.

 

[links18]

http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-blog/2016/10/mother.html

David Cohen's take.