The new citizenship act is efficient. Is it fair?

Following the Parliamentary hearings and debates, without any amendments, my overall take on C-24 — the Strengthening of Canadian Citizenship Act. Full version below (both pay wall and open versions), excerpt on revocation:

Most fundamentally, revocation for dual nationals convicted of terrorism or treason, at home or abroad, changes a policy stance this country has held since Diefenbaker — that a citizen is a citizen, whether single or dual national.

The government and its supporting witnesses emphasized broad support for revocation in these cases. “Nobody wants a terrorist as a neighbour,” they said. Revocation is not “harsh”and is in line with other countries, they argued. Eight out of ten Canadians support revocation. Immigrants make a choice to come to Canada and accept the “fundamental social contract of citizenship”.

Let’s turn to a specific, theoretical case. Consider the two Calgarians that were killed in Syria fighting for extremist or terrorist groups.

Damian Clairmont and Salman Ashrafi were raised and lived in Calgary. Neither chose to be Canadian. Clairmont was born in Canada. Ashrafi immigrated with his parents when he was in Grade 5 or 6. He became Canadian but also has Pakistani citizenship.

Clairmont would keep his Canadian citizenship; Ashrafi would lose his even though he spent most of his youth in Canada.

Same crime, two different results. Hard to see how the courts would rule this as being charter-compliant.

While Clairmont and Asrafi are dead, similar cases will emerge — such as Mohamed Hersi, the Somali-Canadian convicted of attempting to participate in terrorist activity, who came to Canada as a child.

In the case of the Quebec Values Charter, general polling showed high levels of support — but polling focused on the question of forcing existing Quebec government employees to conform or quit showed less support. Would Canadians necessarily support treating cases like that of Clairmont and Asrafi differently? Someone born and raised in Canada but of dual nationality?

The new citizenship act is efficient. Is it fair? (iPolitics pay wall)

The new citizenship act is efficient. Is it fair? (open)