The Government of Canada recently reformed Canada’s Citizenship Act. Since then, false rumours have been spreading about those changes, leading people to believe that under the new law, dual citizens who spend significant time outside Canada can have their Canadian citizenship revoked.

This is absolutely not true. Our recent reforms strengthen Canadian citizenship, making all Canadians safer.

Canadian citizenship carries rights and duties, privileges and responsibilities. Because it is so valuable, we believe that citizenship should never be revoked except in the very worst cases where a citizen has committed crimes against Canada.

For the first time, our government has made it possible to revoke the citizenship of persons who have been convicted of violent terrorist acts or who have taken up arms to fight against Canada’s Armed Forces.

We believe this is both fair and necessary to protect Canadians from the sort of violence and terrorism we see in too many other parts of the world. We also find it surprising that the Opposition in Parliament voted to defend the right of terrorists and people who fight against Canada to remain Canadian citizens.
  
A few people deliberately cheat and defraud while trying to become Canadian citizens. They make it look as though they are living in Canada when they are really living overseas, with no intention of permanently committing to Canada. Canadian law has always dictated that if someone cheats in this way, they can have their citizenship revoked. Again, this is not new. Any person who didn’t actually meet the qualifications for citizenship should not have had citizenship granted in the first place.

Canadians understand that citizenship should not be simply a passport of convenience. And better than most, new Canadians understand the value of Canadian citizenship.

Canada is a generous, welcoming country. Our government is proud of its strong record on immigration, welcoming millions of new Canadians who are working hard to make Canada stronger. But we will not tolerate people who abuse our generosity. That is why we will continue to see that those who cheat our immigration system are not rewarded with citizenship they have not earned. It is also why individuals who commit acts of violent terrorism or take up arms against Canada may no longer call themselves Canadians.  

Our changes to the Citizenship Act will reduce citizenship processing times to less than a year by 2015-16.  This is very good news for current permanent residents considering becoming citizens.

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The audio version of Garry's September 15, 2014 op-ed column can be heard by clicking here.