Green Party calls for new Citizenship Act

NEW GLASGOW – Canada’s Citizenship Act is still outdated and fails to comply with the Charter, says the Green Party. The Harper government recently amended the Act to address some of the many loopholes that wrongfully stripped Canadians of their citizenship, but other loopholes still remain and for some “lost Canadians”, the nightmare will continue.

“The Green Party is encouraged by the government’s effort to rectify the situation but these patchwork reforms still leave the Act with flaws and loopholes,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. “It is an antiquated piece of legislation and it still fails to fully comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We propose closing all loopholes and ending Charter violations by replacing it with new, simplified and airtight legislation.”

The reforms have ended some bizarre cases of citizenship removal but have left other Canadians, such as children born abroad to Canadian parents after 1977, susceptible to losing citizenship.

“Allowing such fundamental Charter violations to continue to continue to occur is not fitting for a modern democracy,” said Ms. May. “The Green Party calls on the Harper government to draft a new Citizenship Act in accordance with the unanimous 12th report of the Citizenship and Immigration Committee of the 38th Parliament, titled ‘Updating Canada's Citizenship Laws: It's Time’.”