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Comparative Table Bill C-24 Current & Future

Prepared by: Dayarayan Management & consulting LTD- Gholamhossein Davani


On February 6, 2014 the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-24, The Strengthening
Canadian Citizenship Act that in spite that said some part of this bill was opposed Canada
Constitution act but passed (with 137 vote agree in 118 oppose and 48 un- voted) by House of
Common at June 16, 2014 and then passed by Senate Committee 17 June 2014 so Bill C-24 is
Law!!
(It was wounded that 48 un-voted were belong Conservative =24 ,NDP =11 , Liberal=8 ,
Block=4 and independent=1 ) .Chris Alexander, Canadas Citizenship and Immigration
Minister have said Canadian citizenship comes with rights and responsibilities. Bill C-24
proposes a number of amendments to the Citizenship Act to reinforce the value of Canadian
citizenship. The amendments support the governments commitment to the successful integration
of new citizens into our labour market and our communities, ensuring that they are better
prepared to assume the responsibilities of citizenship and have a strong attachment to Canada.
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The following highlights some of the key problems with the Bill:
Residency Requirements the Bill C-24 has increased the residency requirement from the current three out of
four years, to four out of six years. It also takes away the current rule which recognizes the time spent by an
applicant prior to obtaining their permanent resident up to a period of one year. Increasing the time
requirement to 4 out of 6 years will automatically increase the time it will take for someone to become a
citizen. Not recognizing time spent prior to the PR status will have a negative impact particularly on refugees
and live-in-caregivers, as well as on immigrants who are accepted under the Canadian experience class. It may
also affect sponsored spouses who have a two year condition attached to their immigration status, as it is not
clear if those two years can be counted towards their citizenship application.
Intent to Reside - the Bill introduces an intent to reside provision, which requires an applicant to declare
that they intend to reside in Canada after becoming a Canadian citizen. This is unfair because it only applies to
people who are naturalized citizens, but not to those who are born in Canada. It also makes it possible for the
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to revoke the citizenship status of a Canadian who, for reasons
beyond his/her control, has to leave Canada after obtaining his/her citizenship status.
Language/knowledge requirement - Bill C-24 dramatically expands the group of individuals who are
required to meet these requirements in order to become citizens of Canada. Under the current law, individuals
between the age of 18 and 54 are required to meet these requirements in order to become Canadian citizens.
Bill C-24 will require applicants between the age of 14 and 64 to pass the citizenship test. This is going to
have a serious impact on many refugees and new Canadians, especially those who came under the family class
program, including women who came as sponsored spouses and people who are sponsored as parents and
grandparents.
Fee Increase - another change, which has already taken effect in February, 2014 is the fee increase. The fee
required for an adult application is now $400 and for children it is $200. This affects low income immigrants
in particular.
New Power to Strip Dual Citizens of their Canadian citizenship - Bill C-24 proposes new powers for the
Minister to strip citizenship from dual citizens in cases of treason, or terrorism. The Minister, and in some
cases, the Federal Court will be authorized to strip Canadian citizenship because a citizen with dual citizenship
has been found guilty of treason or terrorism. That includes convictions outside of Canada. And the
provision will be applied retroactively. There are two main issues with these new powers: First, it creates a
two-tier citizenship separating those who have dual citizenship and those who do not. Second, this provision
applies even if the convictions are handed down by undemocratic countries which have serious human rights
problems.
Access to Federal Court - Bill C-24 is replacing the automatic right to appeal to the Federal Court with an
application for judicial review, with leave from the Court. This will not only limit the access for many
applicants to challenge a negative decision, but more importantly, it will reduce judicial
Extending citizenship to Lost Canadians
There remains a small number of Lost Canadians, the majority of whom were born before
1947 such as some first generation children born abroad to war brides and service men who were
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not eligible for Canadian citizenship. The proposed legislation would address their situations. For
more information, see the separate backgrounder on Lost Canadians.
Bill C-24 received Royal Assent on June 19, 2014. Some provisions come into force
immediately upon Royal Assent; others are expected to come into force at a date to be
determined by Governor in Council (GIC).
Provisions that came into force immediately (upon Royal Assent) include: fast tracking
citizenship applications for members of the Canadian Armed Forces; improving clarity on the
First Generation Limit on citizenship for those born abroad; enabling children born abroad to
serving Crown servants to pass on citizenship to their children born or adopted abroad; and
streamlined decision making for issuing Discretionary Grants under section (5) (4).Provisions
coming into force on a date to be determined by the Governor in Council, anticipated to be
approximately a month after Royal Assent, include: the new decision-making model for
citizenship applications; various measures to improve efficiency of the application process; and a
new judicial review and appeals process Provisions coming into force on a date to be determined
by the Governor in Council, anticipated to be in approximately a year, include: provisions to
give citizenship to more Lost Canadians; new residence requirements; the new intent to reside
requirement; expanded age requirements for language and knowledge testing; and a requirement
to demonstrate knowledge of Canada in an official language. Other provisions in this category
include: strengthened offences and penalties for fraud; prohibitions for foreign criminality and
activities against national interests; a new revocation model and new grounds for revocation of
citizenship; a new authority to designate a regulatory body for citizenship consultants; and
improved information-sharing authorities.


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Comparative Table Bill C-24 Current & Future
Description Current position Bill C-24
Apply to
citizenship
Required number of days of presence
in Canada is 1,095 day per calendar
year in three of the four years
preceding the application for
citizenship
Required number of days of
physical presence in Canada is
1,460 in six years and new section
5(1) (c)(ii) requires a minimum of
183 days of physical presence per
calendar year in four of the six
years preceding the application for
citizenship.

Time as a non-
permanent
resident (non-PR)


Two years of time spent as a non-
permanent resident may be
counted as one year toward
residence for citizenship.

Eliminates this right.
Intend of
resident
There is no intent to reside
provision.

Introduces as a requirement that
the person applying for
citizenship have an intent to
reside in Canada after they obtain
citizenship that mean requirement
that permanent residents seeking
citizenship intend to reside in
Canada once citizenship is
granted (new section 5(1)(c.1)

Citizenship Fee
Was $100 CAD that increased to
$200 CAD last year
New citizenship fee has been
changed to 300 Cad .Adult
applicant are also required to pay
a $100 CAD right of citizenship
fee when applying for a
citizenship grant (refundable if
applicant is not successes)

Tax Return
No formal requirement to file tax
returns although these were
routinely requested as part of
residency test.

Will require income tax returns for
four of last six years. Permanent
residents applying for naturalization
must meet a new requirement: they
must identify whether they have
any obligations under the Income
Tax Act, and if so must file income
tax returns for four of the six years
preceding the application for
citizenship (new section
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Description Current position Bill C-24
5(1)(c)(iii)).

Changes to
knowledge and
language
requirements
required to have an adequate
knowledge of the English or French
language (section 5(1)(d)) and to
have adequate knowledge of
Canada and of the responsibilities
and privileges of citizenship
(section 5(1)(e)),according to policy,
people aged 55 and over do not have
to be tested for their knowledge in
these areas
Requirements to permanent
residents between the ages of 55
and 64 (new sections 5(1)(d) and
5(1)(e)) and to minors aged 14
years and up (new sections 5(2)(c)
and (2)(d)). These requirements can
be waived on the basis of
humanitarian and compassionate
grounds (new section 5(3) (a)).The
bill also amends the Act to
emphasize that the knowledge of
Canada must be demonstrated by
the applicant in the official
language of his or her choice,
presumably without the assistance
of an interpreter (new sections
5(1)(e) and 5(2)(d)).

Change to
Revocation
Procedures
The current process to revoke
citizenship takes three steps. First,
Citizenship and Immigration
Canada ("CIC") indicates an
intention to revoke citizenship. If
the citizen challenges CIC, then
Canada's Federal Court will
determine whether the
government's allegation is
correct. If the Federal Court
affirms the government's allegation,
then the Governor in Council will
decide whether to revoke
citizenship. In current section 10 of
the Act, the only ground for
revocation of citizenship is fraud in
either citizenship applications or
permanent resident applications.
The current procedure involves the
Minister, the Governor in Council
Sections 10(1) and 10.1(1) establish
new procedures for revoking
citizenship on the basis of fraud,
which no longer require the
involvement of the Governor in
Council. If the Minister is satisfied
on a balance of probabilities that a
person has obtained, retained,
renounced or resumed his or her
citizenship by fraud, the Minister
may revoke the persons
citizenship. Under new section
10(3), upon receiving notice from
the Minister, the individual has the
opportunity to make written
representations. Regulations will
indicate the factors that determine
whether the Minister must hold a
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Description Current position Bill C-24
and, if revocation is contested, the
Federal Court (section 18). If, at the
conclusion of these procedures,
fraud is established, the person
ceases to be a Canadian citizen
(section 10(1)(a)) and becomes a
permanent resident, unless the
permanent residence application
was in itself fraudulent. It is
meaning In order to revoke
citizenship on grounds of fraud or
misrepresentation, the Minister
must notify the person of his intent
to revoke. The person has a right to
seek a hearing in the Federal Court.
If the person seeks a hearing, there
is a proceeding in the Federal
Court and if the Court decides that
the person misrepresented a
material fact it makes a finding.
The matter is then referred to the
Governor in Council that makes
the final determination on
revocation.

hearing under new section 10(4)
(see clause 24(5), new section
27(1)(j.2). The Ministers final
decision must be in writing (new
section 10(5). The Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration
Canada may now unilaterally
decide on routine revocation cases
involving fraud and
misrepresentation. Complex
revocation cases involving war
crimes, crimes against humanity,
security, international human rights
violations, and organized
criminality will be decided by
Federal Court. As well, Bill C-24
establishes the legal authority for
the government to revoke the
citizenship of dual citizens who
have served as a member of an
armed force or organized arm group
that was engaged in an armed
conflict with Canada; been
convicted of treason or spying
offences and sentenced to
imprisonment for life; or been
convicted of a terrorism offence and
sentenced to five years or more
imprisonment. Bill C-24 provides
that revocation decisions on the
grounds of fraudulent information
pertaining to security matters will
be made by the Federal Court. New
section 10.1(1) establishes that
when the Minister has reasonable
grounds to believe that fraud has
occurred in relation to a fact that
involves the limited grounds of
inadmissibility found in section 34
(security, espionage, terrorism),
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Description Current position Bill C-24
section 35 (violating human or
international rights, war crimes) or
section 37 (organized criminality)
of IRPA, he or she must seek a
declaration from the Federal Court
for revocation. New section 10.5
makes the Minister of Public Safety
and Emergency Preparedness a
party to the action if he or she
wishes the court to declare that the
person is inadmissible to Canada at
the same time. This streamlines the
process: a single judgment is issued
with respect to the two declarations
(new section 10.5(6)), and has the
effect of bringing a deportation
order into force right away.
Changes to Bar
for Criminal
Convictions
Three-year bar for convictions in
Canada.
Four-year bar for convictions in or
outside of Canada.
Lost Canadian
N/A Bill C-24 will give Canadian
citizenship to individuals who
were born or naturalized in
Canada, as well as to those who
were British subjects residing in
Canada, prior to January 1, 1947,
but who were previously not
eligible for Canadian
citizenship. Their citizenship will
be retroactive. The children of
these "Lost Canadians" who were
born abroad in the first generation
will also be given retroactive
citizenship.
Citizenship Fraud

The fines and penalties for
citizenship fraud are a maximum of
$1,000 and/or one year in prison.
Under the new law, the fines and
penalties for citizenship fraud will
be a maximum $100,000 and/or
five years in prison.
Revocation for This provision does not exist in the
current law.
The new law will allow for
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Description Current position Bill C-24
Convictions

revocation of citizenship based on
convictions inside and outside of
Canada for treason, spying or
terrorism offences. It will apply to
all Canadians regardless of how
they obtained their citizenship.
Citizenship revocation for fraud,
misrepresentation or concealment
target conduct that occurs prior to
obtaining citizenship, and is
justified on the basis that it
corrects an erroneous grant of
citizenship. The rationale for
citizenship revocation for criminal
offences is qualitatively different.
It revokes citizenship as
punishment for misconduct as and
whiles a citizen. New grounds for
revocation include convictions that
occurred before or after1 the new
law comes into force for matters
relating to security and serving as
a member of an armed force in a
conflict against Canada. If a
person is convicted of any of the
listed offences (including inter alia
treason, terrorism, aiding the
enemy, espionage, or
communicating), the Minster may
revoke citizenship. However,
where the revocation involves
allegations of service in an armed
force in a conflict against Canada
the Minister must obtain a
declaration from the Federal Court
that the person so served. The
process leading to a declaration
appears to fall well short of an
actual trial, and has the effect of
immediate revocation. The result
of revocation in these instances is
to render the person a foreign
national, not a permanent resident
of Canada.

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Source:
1- BRIEF OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF REFUGEE LAWYERS-Bill C-24,
An Act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to other
Acts- May 5, 2014
2- Bill C- 24, Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, National Immigration Law
Section Canadian Bar Association April 2014.
3- Bill C-24 An act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential
amendments to other Acts, Library of parliament.