Committing terrorism or treason consequences – Revoke of Canadian Citizenship

A new law allowing the government to revoke the Canadian citizenship of dual citizens convicted of certain serious crimes is prompting fears among some ethnic communities that they’ll be unfairly stigmatized.

Citizens from places where dual citizenship is permitted, such as India or the Philippines, there were clear concerns that dual citizens as a whole were being stigmatized and singled out,” says a newly published report on the Citizenship and Immigration department sessions.

Many wondering whether they should still consider retaining dual citizenship with their original home country out of fear that their Canadian citizenship could be revoked more easily by virtue of the fact that they are dual citizens or out of fear that with time, the criteria for revoking citizenship for a dual citizen is expanded.”

The ability to revoke a dual national’s Canadian citizenship was contained in a law passed last year the revocation provisions only came into effect in June 2015.

The government has given no indication that the Strengthening Citizenship Act would be expanded to apply to other crimes; the revocation measures were explained as a direct response to ongoing global terrorist threats.

“For these serious crimes, we think there is a need to send a very clear message that citizenship is a responsibility that we all have, and in the case of dual nationals they can lose the privilege of being a citizen if they engage in these signal acts of disloyalty,” Immigration Minister Chris Alexander told the immigration committee last year.

But human rights groups have argued the new provisions effectively create two tiers of Canadian citizenship, one for those born in Canada and one for those born elsewhere.

Several have included the issue as part of their briefs to the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s scheduled review this week of how well Canada is meeting its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

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