The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology

has the honour to present its

ELEVENTH REPORT

      Your committee, to which was referred Bill C-37, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act has, in obedience to the order of reference of Tuesday, March 4, 2008, examined the said Bill and now reports the same without amendment.

            Your committee has also made certain observations, which are appended to this report

Respectfully submitted, 

ART EGGLETON, P.C.
Chair

OBSERVATIONS 

Your committee has adopted Bill C-37, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act, without amendment with the hope that the bill will receive speedy passage through the Senate and receive Royal Assent at the earliest time.  Changes effected by Bill C-37 that restore or grant citizenship to those who have come to be known as the “lost Canadians” are long overdue.  Hundreds of such people, many of whom are elderly, have been waiting years, and in some cases, many decades for legal recognition of the Canadian citizenship to which they have been morally entitled all along. 

When the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, the Honourable Diane Finley, appeared before the committee on 10 April 2008 to speak in support of the bill, she explained that the problem of the loss of Canadian citizenship is being addressed through amending, rather than replacing, the existing Citizenship Act in order to ensure a faster and more certain resolution.  Members of your committee appreciate the Minister’s reasoning and support her objectives.

However, your committee wishes to focus the government’s attention on the long-standing and obvious need for a new citizenship Act.  Canada’s current Act, which came into force in 1977, has been amended many times over the years.  Today it is nothing short of a cumbersome patchwork of technically drafted provisions, many of which refer to other provisions in now-repealed legislation.  Legal experts find the Citizenship Act difficult to understand; for other Canadians it is impossible to navigate.

Your committee is of the opinion that members of the public should be able to read Canada’s citizenship legislation, understand the system and determine whether they are citizens.  To this end the committee suggests that the government prioritize replacing the Citizenship Act entirely with new, clear and straightforward citizenship legislation in the near future. 

The committee notes that Canada’s existing Citizenship Act perpetuates distinctions drawn on grounds such as whether a child was born in or out of wedlock.  Such distinctions are not compatible with the modern values set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and therefore should not be carried forward into any new citizenship legislation.  Rather, the committee urges the government to ensure that all aspects of new citizenship legislation are Charter-compliant and consistent with Canadian values. Your committee also takes note of the concerns voiced by Professor Donald Galloway who testified that provisions in Bill C‑37 would deny citizenship by descent to those who are born or who are adopted outside Canada, where their Canadian parent is also born or will be adopted outside Canada. Such a distinction would grant citizenship to a first generation born outside Canada while denying it to their children and subsequent generations were they to be born abroad. Such a provision strikes your Committee as arbitrary and unfair. At the same time, your committee agrees with Minister Finley that those seeking Canadian citizenship must be able to demonstrate a connection to this country. Accordingly, and as Professor Galloway suggested, guidelines that do not use place of birth as a proxy should be developed indicating clearly how attachment to Canada is to be demonstrated. 

Finally, committee members note that Bill C-37 will not resolve the problems experienced by a group of lost Canadians typified by descendants of Mennonites who were issued citizenship cards in “error.”  However, it is not our intention to delay resolution for the vast majority of lost Canadians by seeking an amendment to address the problems faced by this smaller group.  Therefore, we urge the Minister to put in place a policy with a view to providing a fast and compassionate resolution for those who, through no fault of their own but at great personal cost, and for many years, have relied on the validity of such erroneously issued citizenship cards.