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1,800 new Canadians poised to lose citizenship: Kenney
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' ~! f$ |9 n1 W* rRichard J. Brennan
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Immigration Minister Jason Kenney confirmed Wednesday that as many as 1,800 new Canadians could be stripped of their citizenship because they were obtained fraudulently.& Q9 y k5 H6 W# T+ v( h; h
4 ]: P& w5 ^9 w) {+ X8 m. c* k3 S“We are in the process of notifying them that we will be revoking their citizenship because Canadian citizenship is not for sale,” Kenney told the Economic Club of Canada.
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Kenney said some of the individuals are believed to have used “unscrupulous” immigration consultants who submitted fraudulent applications on behalf of people who did not meet the qualifications for citizenship.
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The 1,800 were identified following a three-year investigation by the RCMP, other police forces and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
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“By the way, we are not done with our investigation” Kenney said, noting that many of the accused live outside the country.
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5 H* b& a. f) A& ]- E" H/ QThey can challenge the decision in Federal Court. If not, Cabinet will move to revoke their citizenship.% d3 @, p1 @6 c
( n( [( u8 n V! |( }2 V1 GCitizenship revocation is relatively uncommon in Canada with only 63 people being stripped of their citizenship since 1977, Kenney said.# Z/ l- R2 j# |+ f
: C! t5 b9 O7 e) \; KMost were for reasons related to residence fraud, criminality and false identity, or concealing their involvement in war crimes.4 a( n- g- }6 K( ?* E0 T# l6 G
% l) o4 }5 i/ j: P- jSpeaking in Vancouver on Tuesday, Kenney said Ottawa is trying to discourage immigration fraud.7 y* F! w& l6 s: A: j
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“For those who simply touch down and try to get a Canadian passport as a … passport of convenience, who don’t pay our taxes but who do consume our social benefits, I think that’s dishonourable,” he told reporters after delivering a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade.% m- h( @. E& m
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“There are many ways that we are combating immigration fraud and abuse of our generosity, whether it is from [bogus] asylum claimants, crooked immigration consultants, people smugglers [or] people who are abusing our citizenship program,” he said.! c, H z- I6 w$ F) T
8 r4 K7 n9 Q5 J( qKenney also announced that Canada will soon be introducing multi-year visas for low-risk visitors from around the world that will last 10 years. |
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