Liberal government plans to scrap two-tier citizenship

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum says he'll soon eliminate the government's ability to strip people of Canadian citizenship.

      "I can't tell you exactly the date," McCallum said on CBC Radio's The House. "We have a loaded agenda."

      The former Conservative government passed Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act.

      It allows citizenship to be revoked if a Canadian born in another country is convicted of terrorism.

      McCallum said that terrorists with Canadian citizenship should be sent to jail. "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian."

      He also told The House that he won't wait for a legal challenge to wind its way through the courts before eliminating two-tier citizenship.

      In August, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers filed documents in court, alleging that the provision is unconstitutional.

      "Bill C-24 is anti-immigrant, anti-Canadian, and antidemocratic," BCCLA executive director said in a news release last summer. "It undermines—quite literally—what it means to be Canadian."

      Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose also appeared on The House this morning and defended her government's legislation.

      "On these very principled issues that we feel very strongly about, we absolutely will hold the government to account," Ambrose said.

      Comments