QUESTION PERIOD — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Revocation of Citizenship
September 24, 2024
Leader, on July 31, the RCMP announced the arrest of a father and a son who were planning to carry out a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS in the Toronto area. The father had been granted Canadian citizenship in May this year.
Two weeks after the arrest, the minister responsible for citizenship said to reporters:
I think Canadians deserve answers. I’m going to get to the bottom of it. I’m also going to take the next step, which is to start the preliminary work with the evidence at hand to look at whether the individual in question’s citizenship should be revoked.
Leader, Minister Miller said this on August 14 and has said nothing since. What is the status of the work under way to revoke this individual’s citizenship?
Thank you for your question, senator. It is not appropriate for me to comment on specific cases, especially those that are under investigation, whether by the government, the minister or, indeed, the RCMP.
When the issue became known to the government, the minister, with his typical and welcome candour, spoke quite clearly about what he was intending to do. I have every confidence, and Canadians should have every confidence that Minister Miller and this government are pursuing this matter assiduously.
Canadians also have every right to know what’s going on. The minister specifically talked about this case. This NDP-Liberal government now acknowledges that this individual is a member of ISIS and carried out gruesome attacks in a 2015 ISIS propaganda video. He never should have been allowed into our country in the first place, leader, let alone granted citizenship.
Will his citizenship be revoked, yes or no? Or were these just empty words from the minister?
Again, senator, the minister is taking the appropriate steps to get to the bottom of things, and when a decision is made as to what action will be taken, it will be communicated. Until then, it is appropriate, and I have no further comments to make at this stage.
