Ottawa cracks down on citizenship

By Gerald V. Paul
As members of the community are being told to take out their Canadian citizenship so as to avoid deportation, Ottawa is set to revoke citizenship of applicant cheats.
“ Canadian citizenship is not for sale. We are taking action to strip citizenship and permanent residence from people who don’t play by the rules and who lie or cheat to become a Canadian citizen, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney revealed on Monday.
The government plans to revoke the citizenship of 3,100 people who had lied about their residency and failed to reside in the country for three of the four previous years when they submitted their applications.
They reverted to be permanent residents and must reapply.
Letters have been sent to more to more than 600 of the 3,100 people to start the process of revoking their citizenship, a process that takes several years, and so far, no one as yet lost his or her citizenship.
“ We will continue to take strong measures to combat the industry of crooked immigration agents here and abroad who seek to devalue Canadian citizenship by creating fake proof of residency and committing other forms of fraud,” Kenney said.
Kenney is planning to introduce amendments to the Citizenship Act that would require immigration consultants to be members of a regulatory body, which may help crack down on crooked agents.
Meanwhile criminals are increasingly using stolen social insurance numbers and doctored birth certificate to obtain legitimate driver’s licences and passports, an internal report RCMOL said.
And online applications make it easier for criminals for criminals to avoid face-to—face interactions when committing identity fraud.
The report suggests Ottawa’s recent move to stop issuing SIN cards, instead sending the information in a letter, may not hinder identity thieves who skim someone’s mail or pick through the garbage looking for the nine-digit number.