Liberals set to repeal immigration bill C-24 critics decried as path to two-tiered Canadian citizenship

The new Liberal administration in Ottawa is preparing to repeal a controversial citizenship law the Conservatives passed in 2014.

According to a Globe and Mail report, Immigration Minister John McCallum has said the government will reverse provisions of Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, that allow for some Canadians to be stripped of their citizenship.

“A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,” McCallum said to the Globe’s Michelle Zilio.

Bill C-24 makes it so that new immigrants to Canada can see their citizenship revoked at the discretion of government bureaucrats. For example, the legislation provides for citizenship to be rescinded if it is decided an individual fails to show “intent” to reside in Canada. Immigrants can also lose their citizenship if they are found guilty of a crime, which Vancouver immigration lawyer Zool Suleman previously told the Straight creates a form of “double punishment” for one group of Canadians that did not apply to another.

It’s those sorts of changes McCallum has said the Liberals will now reverse.

He also told the Globe the government will revisit provisions of Bill C-24 that make it more complicated for some people to obtain citizenship.

“We believe that it’s better to make it easier rather than harder for people to become citizens,” McCallum said.