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1,800 new Canadians poised to lose citizenship: Kenney, ]% ~5 S5 H6 w" V6 ?1 B
" t" e, c* v: KRichard J. Brennan
0 o/ k1 }7 z3 dNational Affairs Writer
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( g1 u" K) L2 l s# p& ^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.! S! p; b3 K1 `) o* U. Y
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“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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6 `: c* i, w$ U& h! CKenney 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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* h# K$ N! T( F9 _“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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They can challenge the decision in Federal Court. If not, Cabinet will move to revoke their citizenship.
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9 D6 J# v5 |0 }- |. F$ i+ V! G& B' V/ vCitizenship revocation is relatively uncommon in Canada with only 63 people being stripped of their citizenship since 1977, Kenney said.- d5 t6 h+ X* _& c$ t& H
n# x: z8 N6 @/ eMost were for reasons related to residence fraud, criminality and false identity, or concealing their involvement in war crimes.4 m- t$ v0 W& v% F
0 s5 O! \8 ~1 A8 D4 R0 ZSpeaking in Vancouver on Tuesday, Kenney said Ottawa is trying to discourage immigration fraud.
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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.: {& R2 O6 E3 e
( R" N4 _1 x/ d& A“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./ f1 }2 o) h/ z' m0 ]. o2 ]8 S
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Kenney 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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发表于 2011-7-20 09:05
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