Ontario Liberals opt to allow temporary residents to vote in leadership race even though federal counterpart barred them

2026/02/13 2 Comments

Sigh… Canada has relatively accessible citizenship. Voting rights are an essential aspect and this measure, as in the case when the federal liberals allowed this, further diminish citizenship:

Over the weekend, the Ontario Liberals released the long-awaited rules for the party’s leadership race such as fundraising targets and the deadline to register as a member to vote.

But unlike the federal Liberals’ leadership election, no changes were made to who could cast a ballot, meaning non-citizens and people in Canada on student or work visas are all eligible, per the party’s constitution.

The 2024 public inquiry into foreign election interference said China, one of three countries flagged for attempting to interfere in Canada elections, uses international students, as well as diplomatic missions, community organizations and private individuals, to “carry out its transnational repression activities.”

The inquiry said China targets members of Chinese Canadian diaspora communities for the “purposes of repression, influence and forced return of targeted individuals” to its territory.

Michelle Tessier, who served as Deputy Director of Operations at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) from 2018 to 2023, said candidate selection and leadership contests were identified during the inquiry as particularly vulnerable points in the political system.

“I do think it’s concerning,” Tessier said of parties continuing to allow non-citizens to vote in internal leadership races.

She pointed to the inquiry’s findings around the difficulty of verifying residency and the increased risks associated with transnational repression, where foreign nationals may face coercion or threats from hostile state actors.

“In terms of the vulnerability around being able to confirm somebody’s residence, the risk of foreign nationals being subject to transnational repression, which is, you know, the coercion or threats, to have them to vote a certain way. Now, granted that can happen to Canadians citizens as well who may have family overseas. (…) but it does increase the vulnerability,” she said.

“Given that it was indicated in the recommendations of the commission, it would certainly be encouraging to see steps being taken to follow those recommendations,” she added….

Source: Ontario Liberals opt to allow temporary residents to vote in leadership race even though federal counterpart barred them

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“Les parents de Jack Letts, détenu en Syrie, veulent revoir leur fils”

2026/02/10 Leave a comment

Seeing less coverage in English language media than in previous years. Parental nightmare:

“En 2019, en raison du risque qu’il poserait à la sécurité du pays, Jack, qui est né et qui a grandi au Royaume-Uni, s’est fait déchoir de sa citoyenneté britannique. Il ne lui reste que sa citoyenneté canadienne, obtenue par filiation. À l’époque, Ottawa avait déploré que Downing Street se soit « déchargé de ses responsabilités ».

Depuis, le gouvernement canadien refuse de rapatrier Jack, comme tous les autres ressortissants canadiens soupçonnés d’avoir combattu avec Daech. En 2023, la Cour d’appel fédérale avait donné raison à Ottawa en précisant qu’il n’existait pas de « droit absolu » permettant de contraindre l’État à rapatrier ses citoyens afin de « les soustraire aux répercussions de leurs actions ».

Sally Lane espère qu’Ottawa révisera sa position à la lumière des récents développements. Si Jack est traduit en justice en Irak, il risque de subir un procès expéditif et partial, pourrait être contraint de passer aux aveux sous la torture et être condamné à la peine de mort, craignent ses parents.

“« Les abus du système judiciaire en Irak sont bien connus », mentionne Mme Lane. « J’espère que l’attention médiatique va réellement forcer le gouvernement canadien à agir [en le rapatriant], ce qu’il a refusé de faire jusqu’à présent. » Jack pourrait ensuite subir un procès ici, soutient John Letts.

Depuis des années, les autorités kurdes et états-uniennes réclament que les détenus étrangers retournent dans leurs pays d’origine. « Je pense que les Américains utilisent ces transferts comme une technique de rapatriement sous haute pression. C’est la manière qu’ils ont trouvée pour forcer les pays réticents à rapatrier leurs ressortissants », confie Mme Lane.”

“Extrémisme
Les parents de Jack — qui n’ont pas pu parler à leur fils depuis 2017 — se disent tous deux convaincus de son innocence. Jack, qui s’était converti à l’islam à 16 ans et qui s’est rendu en Syrie à 18 ans, s’est fait arrêter parce qu’il se trouvait dans le territoire contrôlé par Daech, clament-ils.



« Ce n’est pas parce que vous travaillez ou vivez dans l’espace géographique contrôlé par Daech que vous êtes forcément membre de Daech », mentionne son père. Plusieurs médias, qui ont affublé leur fils du surnom de Jihadi Jack, l’ont toutefois dépeint comme un homme ayant été radicalisé.



Sally Lane et John Letts ont eux-mêmes dû faire face à la justice en 2019 pour avoir envoyé de l’argent à leur fils. Ils ont été jugés coupables d’un chef lié au financement du terrorisme, puisque l’argent envoyé aurait pu être utilisé par Daech, a statué le tribunal.”

Source: “Les parents de Jack Letts, détenu en Syrie, veulent revoir leur fils”

In 2019, due to the risk he would pose to the security of the country, Jack, who was born and raised in the United Kingdom, was deprived of his British citizenship. All he has left is his Canadian citizenship, obtained by filiation. At the time, Ottawa deplored that Downing Street had “discharged its responsibilities”.

Since then, the Canadian government has refused to repatriate Jack, like all other Canadian nationals suspected of fighting with Daesh. In 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Ottawa by specifying that there was no “absolute right” to force the State to repatriate its citizens in order to “subtract them from the repercussions of their actions”.

Sally Lane hopes that Ottawa will revise its position in light of recent developments. If Jack is brought to justice in Iraq, he risks an expedited and biased trial, could be forced to confess under torture and be sentenced to death, his parents fear.

“The abuses of the judicial system in Iraq are well known,” says Ms. Lane. “I hope that the media attention will really force the Canadian government to act [by repatriating it], which it has refused to do so far. “Jack could then face a trial here,” says John Letts. For years, the Kurdish and American authorities have been demanding that foreign prisoners return to their countries of origin. “I think Americans are using these transfers as a high-pressure repatriation technique. This is the way they have found to force reluctant countries to repatriate their nationals, “says Ms. Lane.”

“Extremism

Jack’s parents – who have not been able to talk to their son since 2017 – both say they are convinced of his innocence. Jack, who converted to Islam at the age of 16 and went to Syria at the age of 18, was arrested because he was in the territory controlled by Daesh, they claim.

“It is not because you work or live in the geographical area controlled by Daesh that you are necessarily a member of Daesh,” says his father. Several media outlets, which gave their son the nickname Jihadi Jack, however, portrayed him as a radicalized man.

Sally Lane and John Letts themselves had to face justice in 2019 for sending money to their son. They were found guilty of a charge related to the financing of terrorism, since the money sent could have been used by Daesh, the court ruled.”

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Sweden to tighten citizenship rules amid push to cut immigration

2026/02/10 Leave a comment

Of note, trend in the Nordics:

Sweden will tighten citizenship rules with applicants facing a longer, eight-year wait before they can apply, a minimum wage threshold and a test of their understanding of Swedish society, the centre-right government said on Monday.

Successive governments have tightened immigration policies since 2015, when around 160,000 asylum seekers sought refuge in Sweden. But the minority coalition government is betting that an even more restrictive line on immigration will prove popular with voters in September’s parliamentary election.

“These requirements are much tougher than the situation as it is today because currently there are basically no requirements (to become a citizen),” Migration Minister Johan Forssell told reporters.

The government said applicants for Swedish citizenship would have to live in the country for eight years, up from five, have a monthly income of more than 20,000 Swedish crowns ($2,225), and be able to pass a language and culture test.

“It seems reasonable that you should know whether Sweden is a monarchy or a republic, if you want to be a citizen,” Forssell said.

Anyone with a criminal record, either in Sweden or abroad, will have to wait longer before they can apply. Someone who had served a four-year prison sentence, for example, would have to wait 15 years before being able to apply for citizenship….

Source: Sweden to tighten citizenship rules amid push to cut immigration

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Judge approves bid to revoke Canadian citizenship over man’s hidden role in massacre

2026/02/07 2 Comments

Right call. Misrepresentation prior to becoming a citizen clear grounds for revocation but crimes committed after becoming a citizen are Canada’s responsibility:

A judge has approved a federal bid to revoke the Canadian citizenship of a former member of the Guatemalan military who took part in the murder of villagers.

In a ruling Thursday, Federal Court Justice Roger Lafrenière said Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes deceived Canadian immigration officials throughout the permanent residence application process and obtained his Canadian citizenship by fraud. 

The federal government went to court in 2017 seeking declarations that would effectively strip Sosa of his citizenship and make him inadmissible to Canada.

Lafrenière granted both declarations.

A bloody, decades-long conflict between Guatemalan government forces and guerrillas intensified in the early 1980s. 

Canada said Sosa, now 67, was a senior member of a military special forces group that led a mission to the Guatemalan village of Las Dos Erres in December 1982 to interrogate residents about some missing rifles. …

Source: Judge approves bid to revoke Canadian citizenship over man’s hidden role in massacre

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‘Birth tourism’ organizer jailed over scheme to bring pregnant Chinese women to US

2026/02/06 Leave a comment

Not aware of any similar cases in Canada in terms of charges given that there is no such prohibition. However, Richmond had an active cottage industry of services to pregnant Chinese women and any google search indicates a number of lawyers and consultants who offer their services:

A California woman was sentenced Monday to more than three years in prison in a long-running case over a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States to deliver babies who automatically became American citizens.

US District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave Phoebe Dong a 41-month sentence and ordered her immediately taken into custody from his federal court in Los Angeles. Dong and her husband were convicted in September of conspiracy and money laundering through their company, USA Happy Baby.

The sentencing came as birthright citizenship has been thrust into the spotlight in the US with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. Since taking office, Trump issued an executive order to narrow the definition of birthright citizenship, a move quickly blocked by a federal judge who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Dong and her husband, Michael Liu, were among more than a dozen people charged in an Obama-era crackdown on so-called “birth tourism” schemes that helped Chinese women hide their pregnancies while traveling to the US to give birth. Such businesses have long operated in various states catering to people from China, Russia, Nigeria and elsewhere.

Under the 14th Amendment, any child born in the United States is an American citizen. Many have seen these trips as a way to help their children secure a US college education and a better future – especially since the tourists themselves can apply for permanent residency once the children turn 21.

During her sentencing hearing, Dong wiped away tears as she recalled growing up without siblings due to China’s strict “one-child ” policy and told the court that the Chinese government forced her mother to have an abortion. Moving to the US was challenging, she said, but Dong grew hopeful after having children of her own and saw she could help Chinese women who want to have additional children in California.

“I don’t want to lose my kids,” she told the court. “I hope you can give me fair judgment. I will take all my responsibility.”

Federal prosecutors sought a more than five-year sentence for Dong and argued that she and Liu helped more than 100 pregnant Chinese women travel to the US. They said the pair worked with others to coach women on how to trick customs officials by flying into airports believed to be more lax while wearing loose-fitting clothing to hide their pregnancies.

“For tens of thousands of dollars each, defendant helped her numerous customers deceive US authorities and buy US citizenship for their children,” prosecutors said in court filings. They declined to comment after the sentencing.

In December, Liu was also sentenced to 41 months in prison. Dong’s lawyer, John McNicholas, asked that she be allowed to serve her term after Liu completes his sentence because of their three children. The youngest is 13.

Federal prosecutor Kevin Fu agreed to the delay but Klausner refused and had her taken into custody immediately. Dong removed a necklace and gave it to a family member before she was led away.

The USA Happy Baby case was part of a broader probe into businesses that helped Chinese women travel to give birth in California. The operator of another business is believed to have fled to China, McNicholas wrote in court filings, while another was sentenced in 2019 to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and visa fraud for running the company known as “You Win USA.”

McNicholas said he feels Dong was given a much longer sentence because the government and Klausner blame her for the babies that were born US citizens. That, he said, is unrelated to the allegations that she and Liu helped women travel to the United States to give birth.

“Our position was these children are born in America. They’re citizens,” McNicholas said, adding that Dong will appeal. “Implicitly, he’s saying being born here is not enough.”

Source: ‘Birth tourism’ organizer jailed over scheme to bring pregnant Chinese women to US

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Krishnaraj: And How Will You Be Paying for Your Baby Today? [birth tourism]

2026/01/26 Leave a comment

Good in person account of how birth tourism and other medical services affects doctors and the healthcare system:

…The primary intended use for the credit card terminal was to collect fees from uninsured, non-resident patients. These patients, who are not covered by provincial, federal, or private insurance, need to pay out of pocket for services provided in the hospital. If they are admitted, the hospital cashier collects fees for services like the bed, food, medication, and nursing care. But doctors must collect their fees directly from these patients. The amount that they bill for each specific service is guided by a document of standardized fees published by the Ontario Medical Association.

If doctors don’t bill and work in a fee-for-service system, they do not get paid for their work. Which is why in the doctors’ lounge at Humber Regional Hospital, the question was not how much to bill, but rather how to have these conversations, and when.

Is it on admission, hoping for no complications, and no further charges? Prior to letting the non-birthing parent into the operating room during a caesarian? Or do you ask the new mother to reach for their wallet as the baby is learning to nurse?

Turns out there’s no good time to give someone a bill for their baby.

This is a side of practising medicine in Canada that is rarely discussed. There were an estimated 5,430 non-resident births in Canada in 2024, according to analysis of Canadian Institute of Health Information data published by Policy Options. This is just below the historic peak of 5,698 in 2019. In 2023 — the year I was at Humber —the hospital had the highest rate of non-resident births in the country, accounting for roughly one in 10 deliveries.

I witnessed this firsthand. Almost every day, I would be asked to assess the newborn baby of an uninsured, non-resident mother on the postpartum ward….

Gautham Krishnaraj MDc PhD is a Fellow in Journalism & Health Impact at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. 

Source: And How Will You Be Paying for Your Baby Today?

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Older, 70% white, plunging fertility and lost faith: Who Canada is now

2026/01/09 Leave a comment

Good detailed overview of Census 2021 (albeit years late). Possibly preparing for debates and discussions regarding the 2026 Census:

Numbers can tell a story. Canada is home to 41.58 million people, according to the latest population estimates, and the average age was 41.7. At the time of the last census, just over half were women and girls, and just under half were men and boys. Of the nearly 30.5 million people 15 and older, 100,815 (0.33 per cent) were transgender or nonbinary. The average household size was 2.4 people. Five per cent of the population — 1.8 million people — self-identified as Indigenous. Almost one-quarter, or 8.4 million people, were immigrants, many hailing from the three leading places of birth: India, the Philippines and China. Of the 450-plus ethnic or cultural origins reported, “Canadian” was tops at 5.7 million people.

The last census conducted by Statistics Canada in 2021, and released in stages throughout 2022, revealed the ways Canada stands out among the G7, including fastest population growth (mostly due to people moving here from elsewhere), most educated workforce (again, thanks in large part to immigrants), highest proportion of common-law couples and, at almost one-quarter, the highest proportion of foreign-born people who are now citizens.

In December, it was revealed that Canada’s population decreased for the first time in about five years — thanks again to immigration or, rather, a drop in its numbers. Driven by caps on international students and temporary foreign workers, the country’s population as of Oct. 1, 2025, declined by roughly 76,068 people, or 0.2 per cent, from July 1, when the population was estimated to be 41.65 million….

Source: Older, 70% white, plunging fertility and lost faith: Who Canada is now

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These international students in Canada didn’t submit test scores because they weren’t asked to. Now, their work permits are refused

2026/01/07 1 Comment

Significant oversight in the online app. Lack of user testing or feedback? Students have a case for reconsideration:

…Over the last few months, immigration experts are seeing a growing number of international graduates like Xu being refused postgraduation work permits for failing to upload language test results, losing their legal status in Canada. They have to stop working immediately and face possible removal.

While many have asked officials for reconsideration, others have reapplied with the faint hope that they would get a second chance. 

“It may sound stupid, but I trusted the system, because I’ve been doing my own study permit and visa applications many times over the years,” said Xu. The Chinese student came here in 2016, first to improve her English before pursuing her master’s degree and PhD.

“There’s no reminder or alert in the system to tell you where to upload the language scores. It should not allow applicants to submit an application when a required document is missing.”

Only now did the 34-year-old woman learn, after the refusal, that the instruction on how to upload the test result had been buried on the Immigration Department website on a separate page that few would have spotted.

Students urge Minister Diab to intervene

An online petition has been launched to urge Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab to reinstate students’ refused applications.

Although the language requirement took effect in late 2024, Vancouver immigration lawyer Will Tao said the issue only emerged this fall due to excessive processing delays. It currently takes more than 210 days for work permit applications submitted inside Canada.

Despite what the Immigration Department called the “technical limitations” that prevent the application portal from installing a new direct upload field for language test proof, Tao is baffled as to why officials can’t just put a simple note there to inform applicants where to upload it.

“That appears only in a separate policy document that does require a lot of searching and digging to find,” he noted. “It’s all automated and now people are getting refused en masse for not uploading a document that you didn’t ask me to upload.”

(Soon after the Star’s inquiry to the Immigration Department about these refusals based on missing language proficiency proofs, Tao noted that officials had placed the upload information on three other webpages, but still not on the application portal.) 

Hundreds of permit applications refused

The department said it has received 162,000 postgraduation work permit applications since the inception of the mandatory language requirement; 815 had been refused up to September due to missing documents that may include the language proficiency proof…

Source: These international students in Canada didn’t submit test scores because they weren’t asked to. Now, their work permits are refused

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ICYMI: L’Algérie réforme sa loi sur la citoyenneté dans la controverse

2026/01/06 Leave a comment

Of note, with likely impact on those of Algerian descent in Canada (about 90,000 according to the 2021 census):

Sous couvert d’une réforme visant à faire face aux « nouveaux défis sécuritaires », les élus algériens ont voté le 24 décembre dernier pour une modification de la loi sur la citoyenneté qui vise à faciliter la déchéance de nationalité de citoyens accusés de porter atteinte aux intérêts de l’État algérien.

La mesure est perçue comme une menace pour les diasporas algériennes partout dans le monde. Elles voient, dans la démarche, une nouvelle arme répressive ciblant une opposition et une dissidence au régime autoritaire du président Abdelmadjid Tebboune, forcées depuis plusieurs années de s’exprimer depuis l’étranger.

« Le message envoyé à la communauté internationale et aux opposants du régime en exil est d’une clarté brutale, a commenté un des membres de cette diaspora vivant au Royaume-Uni sur les réseaux sociaux cette semaine. [Cette mesure] est une preuve incontestable que toute opposition au régime militaire est assimilée à une opposition à l’État algérien lui-même, dans une confusion volontaire entre institutions de l’État et le régime. Elle est aussi la preuve que la seule opposition tolérée en Algérie est celle qui est contrôlée, encadrée ou neutralisée par le régime. »

Porté par le député Hicham Sifer du Rassemblement national démocratique, troisième parti en importance sur l’échiquier politique algérien, et formation proche de la présidence, l’amendement voté mercredi dernier par l’Assemblée populaire nationale élargit ainsi les motifs de révocation de la nationalité algérienne pour les citoyens binationaux. Elle inscrit désormais cette déchéance pour « atteinte à la sécurité ou à l’unité de l’État », « allégeance à une puissance étrangère », « fourniture de services à un État étranger dans l’intention de nuire aux intérêts nationaux », « assistance à des forces militaires étrangères » ou encore pour « participation, y compris financière ou propagandiste, à des organisations terroristes ou subversives à l’étranger ».

Le ministre algérien de la Justice, Lotfi Boudjemaa, a qualifié ce texte d’une « grande importance » en rappelant qu’il « vise à faire face à ceux qui, de l’extérieur du territoire national, veulent porter atteinte à la nation, manquant ainsi à leur devoir éthique et légal vis-à-vis de la mère patrie ».

Source: L’Algérie réforme sa loi sur la citoyenneté dans la controverse

Under the guise of a reform to face the “new security challenges”, Algerian elected officials voted on December 24 for an amendment to the citizenship law that aims to facilitate the deprivation of nationality of citizens accused of harming the interests of the Algerian State.

The measure is perceived as a threat to Algerian diasporas around the world. They see, in the approach, a new repressive weapon targeting opposition and dissent to the authoritarian regime of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, forced for several years to speak from abroad.

“The message sent to the international community and opponents of the regime in exile is of brutal clarity,” commented one of the members of this diaspora living in the United Kingdom on social networks this week. [This measure] is indisputable proof that any opposition to the military regime is assimilated to an opposition to the Algerian State itself, in a voluntary confusion between state institutions and the regime. It is also proof that the only opposition tolerated in Algeria is the one that is controlled, supervised or neutralized by the regime. ”

Carried by Deputy Hicham Sifer of the National Democratic Rally, the third largest party on the Algerian political chessboard, and a formation close to the presidency, the amendment voted last Wednesday by the National People’s Assembly thus expands the grounds for the revocation of Algerian nationality for binational citizens. It now registers this forfeiture for “undermining the security or unity of the State”, “allegiance to a foreign power”, “provision of services to a foreign State with the intention of harming national interests”, “assistance to foreign military forces” or for “participation, including financial or propaganda, in terrorist organizations or Subversive abroad”.

The Algerian Minister of Justice, Lotfi Boudjemaa, described this text as “of great importance” by recalling that it “aims to face those who, from outside the national territory, want to harm the nation, thus failing in their ethical and legal duty towards the motherland”.

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See attractions, get attracted: This is one way Canada is trying to help new immigrants decide to stay

2026/01/06 Leave a comment

More coverage for the latest “Leaky Bucket” report (catching up on the report issued last November, CBC only covered this week):

…Highly educated immigrants are leaving faster than those with lower education levels, while those with doctorates are more than twice as likely to leave as those with a secondary education or less, according to the report.

But ICC research shows the antidote to the skilled immigrant exodus is a sense of belonging and optimism about life in Canada, the factor most closely tied to whether newcomers stay long term.

While financial struggles and concerns push many to leave, the data found that the strongest driver of immigrant retention is optimism about the future, measured by immigrants’ confidence in their personal and family prospects, plans for long-term residence in Canada and belief that friends and family can succeed here. 

Even a one per cent increase in optimism boosts the likelihood of staying by 28 per cent, according to ICC data.

“Immigration is a long game. It isn’t just about inviting people to come to Canada as immigrants,” said Shamira Madhany, managing director for World Education Services Canada. “What really matters is how included people feel and how inclusive the system is.”

The Canoo app, which aims to support and promote an early sense of connection among newcomers, has had more than 420,000 members since it was created in 2010. …

Source: See attractions, get attracted: This is one way Canada is trying to help new immigrants decide to stay

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