This article was prompted by my experience under the Harper government and Minister Kenney, as a way to assist public servants likely facing a dramatic transition to a Conservative government. I hope readers find it helpful and that this will contribute to conversations regarding the likely transition:
Faced with the likelihood of a majority Conservative government in the foreseeable future, Canada’s federal public service should seriously heed the warning of Stephen Harper’s former communications director, Andrew MacDougall, that “the hangman is coming.”
Over 40 per cent of federal public servants have only worked under the Trudeau government, and after nearly a decade in power, many public servants may have internalized Liberal perspectives.
A Conservative majority would signal public desire for change, and the public service, like it or not, will have to support a different and arguably sharper ideological agenda.
While the Clerk of the Privy Council and deputy ministers will provide high-level direction along with transition briefing books, many of the challenges will affect mid-level executives. Looking back at my experience under the Harper government, as detailed in my book Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias: Resetting Citizenship and Multiculturalism, the following lessons may be helpful.
These reflect the specific policy areas I was responsible for (citizenship and multiculturalism at the federal departments of Canadian Heritage and then Citizenship and Immigration), working under the activist and effective minister Jason Kenney, in what was arguably a less polarized political and social media environment. History seldom repeats itself, but hopefully these reflections will still provide some guidance for public servants beyond the usual transition planning….
The Senate will be starting its review of Bill C-71, the government bill replacing the first generation cut-off for citizenship transmission, by a residency test for the second generation born abroad. The Senate will conduct its review this week prior to the House of Commons given that the House is effectively shut down.
I will be testifying on December 4th.
Please find attached my written submission, arguing for a same time limit of five years to meet the 1,095 day residency requirement as is the case for permanent residents applying for citizenship, and for IRCC to prepare and share its analysis of the likely number of persons affected and the operational impacts along with associated costs. (My own analysis is included in the submission).
The requirements for acquiring Finnish citizenship will be tightened in accordance with the Government Programme. Amendments are proposed to the provisions on the establishment of identity, the integrity requirement and the requirement for sufficient financial resources. The government proposal to amend the Citizenship Act was sent out for comments on 27 November.
The aim is successful integration as a prerequisite for being granted citizenship. The purpose of the legislative amendments is also to place greater emphasis on security-related risks and compliance with the rules of society.
“Finnish citizenship is not something that can be granted automatically. It requires successful integration, work, and compliance with the rules of Finnish society,” says Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen.
More stringent requirements for integrity and sufficient financial resources
The integrity requirement will be made more stringent, which means that committing offences will have a more substantial impact on whether the applicant can be granted citizenship. The importance of national security as part of the procedure for granting citizenship will also be emphasised.
More attention will be paid to sufficient financial resources as an indicator of integration into Finnish society. This means that persons who do not have any income other than unemployment benefit or social assistance will no longer meet this requirement.
More emphasis will be placed on the applicant’s active help in establishing their identity and providing documentary evidence. The amendments will only apply to those who can be reasonably expected to present their national passport. The amendments will not apply to beneficiaries of international protection.
Amendments also proposed to legislation on loss of citizenship
Legislative amendments related to the loss of citizenship will apply to situations where a person has given false information when applying for citizenship or has committed offences that violate Finland’s vital interests. In such situations, the loss of citizenship can become more common in future. For example, a larger number of terrorism-related offences can lead to the loss of citizenship.
The proposal is circulated for comments until 14.1.2025. The government proposal is scheduled to be submitted to Parliament in spring 2025.
The federal government issued a new passport to an admitted human smuggler after he was ordered to surrender the travel document as part of court-imposed release conditions, CBC News has learned.
The new passport was discovered in June 2023 by RCMP investigators executing a search warrant at the Montreal home of Thesingarasan Rasiah during a probe targeting an international human smuggling network that Rasiah allegedly headed, according to court records obtained by CBC News.
At the time, Rasiah was living at home with an electronic ankle bracelet on strict conditions while awaiting sentencing on a February 2023 guilty plea to one count of breaching the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for his role in the smuggling of a Sri Lankan national from the U.S. into Canada in 2021.
Rasiah had been forced to surrender his passport to the RCMP in 2021 as part of his release conditions related to the human smuggling attempt that was intercepted by police in Cornwall, Ont., located about 120 kilometres west of Montreal along the Canada-U.S. border.
Rasiah was also forbidden from applying for any new travel documents.
Smuggling operation linked to deaths
Rasiah was charged on April 1, 2021, after he was caught in a Cornwall motel parking lot receiving a Sri Lankan national who had just been smuggled into Canada. He was sentenced to 15 months in jail in September 2023.
He was re-arrested this past May by the RCMP on charges he led an international human smuggling organization that moved hundreds of people north and south across the Canada-U.S. border. He remains in custody.
Investigators with the Cornwall Regional Task Force — which includes officers from the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) — also linked Rasiah’s organization to the deaths of nine people on the St. Lawrence River in late March 2023. Two families — one from India, the other from Romania — drowned with a boatman in rough river waters trying to get into the U.S.
The new passport seized by RCMP during the search of Rasiah’s home in 2023 was issued by Service Canada on April 11, 2023, less than two weeks after eight bodies were pulled from the river, according to a copy of the document filed with the Ontario Court of Justice. …
The malleability of legal reasoning and principles (or lack thereof) never ceases to amaze me:
The audition process for potential open Supreme Court seats is off and running, thanks to the possibility that conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas could decide to retire during Donald Trump’s second term.
First out of the gate is the hard-right Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Ho. In an interview with the conservative lawyer Josh Blackman, Ho, who was appointed to his current job by Trump, redefined his position on one of the most controversial issues likely to arise in Trump’s second term — and one of the few points on which he and Trump had disagreed — in order to ingratiate himself with the incoming president.
That issue is the 14th Amendment’s grant of birthright citizenship to (almost) all children born on U.S. soil.
Trump has promised to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, but as it now stands, that would be in plain violation of the Constitution and of the judiciary’s interpretation of the 14th amendment going back to 1898.
Previously, Ho endorsed the widely accepted view that birthright citizenship for everyone born on U.S. soil, except for the children of foreign diplomats. In a 2006 paper titled “Defining ‘American’: Birthright Citizenship And The Original Understanding Of The 14th Amendment,” Ho made an originalist defense of the judiciary’s long-standing interpretation of birthright citizenship while arguing that the only way it could be restricted would be through a constitutional amendment — a much higher bar than Trump, acting on his own, could clear.
With Trump’s imminent return to the White House, Ho has now endorsed a tortured revision of his previous position that rests on endorsing Trump’s view that immigrants constitute an invasion.
“Anyone who reads my prior writings on these topics should see a direct connection between birthright citizenship and invasion,” Ho said in the interview with Blackman.
“Birthright citizenship is supported by various Supreme Court opinions, both unanimous and separate opinions involving Justices Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and others. But birthright citizenship obviously doesn’t apply in case of war or invasion. No one to my knowledge has ever argued that the children of invading aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship. And I can’t imagine what the legal argument for that would be.”
This is getting a lot of coverage in Indian media despite being more an anecdote than buttressed by data. Expect to have updated non-resident self-pay data from CIHI, the best approximation of birth tourism data available shortly.
Unfortunately,this does not capture country of origin and there is no equivalent to Richmond General which had a highly visible cottage industry catering to birth tourists for Chinese women:
A video by Canadian citizen claimed pregnant Indian women were flooding Canadian maternity wards to secure citizenship for their babies, sparking heated debate.
Amid growing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada, a viral video has added fuel to the fire, further igniting the ongoing debate about immigration and healthcare policies. The video, shared by Canadian user Chad Eros on X, claims that Canadian maternity wards are being flooded by pregnant Indian women who are flying to Canada to give birth and secure Canadian citizenship for their babies. This provocative statement has captured the attention of many, adding another layer to the already heated discourse surrounding the two nations.
A heated rant over healthcare and citizenship
In his video, the Canadian citizen expresses frustration over what he perceives as an abuse of Canada’s healthcare system. He claims that these women are taking advantage of the country’s maternity services to ensure that their children are granted Canadian citizenship, all at the expense of Canadian taxpayers.
Chad goes on to share a personal story about his niece, who recently gave birth in a Canadian maternity ward. According to Chad, a nurse told his niece that the ward was full of foreign Indian women coming to Canada for the sole purpose of delivering their babies. Chad argues that while Canadian hospitals are obligated to provide care to all, these women are occupying valuable space in maternity wards that could be used by Canadian citizens.
Highlights (some data not yet posted on open data)
Permanent residents admissions: Increase January-September from 370,000 in 2023 to 379,000 in 2024 or 2.3 percent.
TR2PR (Those already in Canada): Increase January-September from 199,000 in 2023 to 205,000 in 2024 or 3.3 percent.
TRs-IMP: Decrease January-September from 681,000 in 2023 to 584,000 in 2024 or -14.2 percent.
TRs-TFWP: Decrease January-September from 160,000 in 2023 to 153,000 in 2024 or -4.0 percent.
Students: Decrease January-September from 544,000 in 2023 to 428,000 in 2024 or -21.3 percent.
Asylum Claimants: Increase January-September from 100,000 in 2023 to 135,000 in 2024 or 34.6 percent.
Citizenship: Increase from 33,179 in June to 36,070 in July. July year-over-year change (change from 2022): 15.4% (25.0%). Year-to date 2024 compared to 2023 increase of 16 percent OPEN DATA NOT UPDATED FOR AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
Visitor Visas: Increase from 118,402 in June to 127,399 in July. July year-over-year change (change from 2022): -19.7% (37.6%). OPEN DATA NOT UPDATED FOR AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER
Letts was UK’s problem and its not accepting of that responsibility led to Letts’ family understandably advocating given that he is a dual citizen by descent (born and raised in UK). “Canadian of convenience” in one sense:
The mother of a Canadian man detained in Syria says the Supreme Court of Canada has signed her son’s death warrant by closing the door on a plea to hear his case.
“I’ve been screaming about this for 7 1/2 years now,” said Sally Lane, the mother of Jack Letts. “I’m exhausted. I just want my son back.”
The Supreme Court had already declined to hear a challenge of a Federal Court of Appeal ruling that said Ottawa is not obligated under the law to repatriate Letts and three other Canadian men.
In a fresh notice filed with the court in March, lawyers for the men said exceedingly rare circumstances warranted another look at the application for leave to appeal.
A letter to the lawyers, dated last Friday, says the motion for reconsideration cannot be accepted for filing, leaving no further remedies in the top court.
“I have reviewed your motion for reconsideration and your affidavit in support,” says the letter from the court registrar. “I regret to inform you that, in my opinion, your motion does not reveal the exceedingly rare circumstances which would warrant reconsideration by this Court.”
The detained Canadian men are among the many foreign nationals in ramshackle detention centres run by Kurdish forces that reclaimed the war-ravaged region from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant….
Don’t have comparable Canadian data on test fail rates but did do this long term analysis on the citizenship processing times and overall approval rates, highlighting contrast between previous conservative government’s tightening and then relaxing operational aspects. What citizenship applications tell us about policy implementation. One of the issues in Discover Canada and the related test questions was the overly high language level but current numbers suggest that is less of an issue. Strongly believe that the test must be written in an official language but case can be made for study guide to be available in other languages:
…More people failing test since 2020
In 2020 the government updated the test for the first time in a decade — introducing five questions on Australian values such as freedom of speech and equal opportunity.
To pass the test, applicants must answer the five values questions correctly.
Since then, more applicants have been failing at the first attempt.
Data from the Home Affairs Department indicated in the year prior to the changes, around 94 per cent of applicants passed on their first attempt.
In the 2023–24 calendar year that had dropped to around 84 per cent, equating to more than 25,000 people failing at the first try.
Ultimately, 96 per cent of 2023–24 applicants passed, but those who made multiple attempts sat the test an average of four extra times.
Advocates, including the Refugee Council of Australia, argue the values questions, because of their more complex wording, are unfair to people without formal education, particularly the elderly and women.
In August, an independent review of the state of Australian multiculturalism recommended the federal government consider offering the test in languages other than English.
But in 2020, the then-Coalition government said ensuring new citizens had a strong grasp of English would make it easier for them to get good jobs.
A spokesperson for Assistant Citizenship Minister Julian Hill said the current government had no plans to make the test available in languages other than English.
“People can seek special assistance with the test, and it is regularly reviewed to ensure the language and questions are clear, fair, and accord with the legal standard of basic English,” the spokesperson said.
My latest in The Hill Times. Password protected so here is the analysis (tables simplified in the HT):
Analysis of citizenship applications between 2005 and 2023 reveals how the previous Conservative government’s pledge to make citizenship “harder to get and easier to lose” resulted in significant delays and reduced approval rates before political realities resulted in mitigating those impacts. The Liberal government reversion to previous residency and other requirements cemented a return to historic approval rates and processing times.
This analysis looks at four periods, roughly aligned to Census periods:
2005-10: During this period, the new Discover Canada citizenship study guide was introduced in 2009 with more detailed content and more complex language, along with a more rigorous knowledge test based upon the guide and more objective language assessments. The policy intent was in part to reduce the previous approval rate of approximately 95 percent to between 80 and 85 percent (“harder to get”).
2011-15: The impact of these 2009-10 operational policy changes was felt during this period. In addition, the Conservative government passed C-24 (Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act) in 2014, expanding knowledge testing and language assessment to those between 14 and 64 years old compared to the previous 18 and 54. Fees increased from $200 to $630 per adult or over $1,400 for a family of four in 2015. The fee increases may have been a Treasury Board condition in order to obtain funding to address a processing backlog. Revocation provisions for “treason and terror” were included.
2021-24: The citizenship oath was updated with a reference to indigenous treaty rights in 2021. The pandemic resulted in the virtual shutdown of citizenship ceremonies for a number of months and a shift to the majority of ceremonies taking place on line. The proposed repeal of the first generation limit in C-71 and replacement by a time-unlimited residency requirement would result in an unknown number of additional Canadian citizens.
Application data by gender, immigration category or country of birth highlights the dramatic initial impact of the policy changes of the Conservative government and how these were relaxed by the Conservatives themselves before having virtually no impact after a number of years under the Liberals. The same pattern applies no matter what the variable, the 2011-15 period was the worst period in terms of delays and approval rates.
Figure 1 provides the overview by period highlighting that in general, women applicants were granted citizenship faster than men and had higher approval rages, save for the 2011-15 period. The percentage not granted citizenship rose to over ten percent in 2012 and 2013, before recovering to just over seven percent in the last years of the Conservative government. Moreover, only about 20 percent of applications were processed within the service standard of one year 2010-13. Apart from the pandemic years 2021-22, service standards were met close to 80 percent of the time.
Figure 2 provides the category comparison, highlighting lower refusal rates for economic class and particularly relatively higher refusal rates immigrants for family and refugee class during the first years of the Liberal government, given that legislation reversing the Conservative age range requirement for knowledge and language assessment only came into force October 2017. But since then, refusal rates are negligible, less than three percent, or lower than 2005.
Figure 3 shows the impact on the five largest immigration source countries, showing again the same overall pattern. Of particular note is the higher rate of Chinese rejections across most periods which may reflect weaker language fluency compared to the other large source countries.
Concluding observations
This analysis highlights the impact that operational policy changes can have on citizenship, making naturalization harder or easier, particularly for family class and refugees. The effective relaxation of knowledge and language assessment in 2014-15 reflects high refusal rates were not politically tenable, particularly in the lead up to the 2015 election.
Application data suggests that immigrants delayed submitting applications 2016-17 once the Liberal government announced it would return to the previous 18 to 54 age requirements. The data also shows a drop in applications in 2020 reflecting applicants waiting for the government to implement its 2019 election commitment to eliminate citizenship fees.
Citizenship applicants pay attention to operational and legislative policy changes and adjust their application timing accordingly.
It is unclear whether or not citizenship changes would be a priority for an expected Conservative government and whether it would want to revert to Harper-era policies. However, citizenship changes would likely be a lessor priority than immigration changes given changing public sentiment on immigration that reflecting debates and discussion on immigration’s impact on housing and healthcare.
Moreover, the fact that the previous government had to soften its “harder to get” approach may provide a cautionary tale in terms of what may or may not be acceptable to immigrant-origin communities.
Methodological notes
Data provided by IRCC, 2005 to April 2024. This partial 2024 data included in overall 2021-24 numbers.
Multicultural Meanderings 