News Release

December 11, 2007

Amendments long overdue -- Gov't should keep promise to make Citizenship Act Charter-compliant

Ottawa: Andrew Telegdi commends the government for finally introducing a Bill to amend the Citizenship Act that would eliminate some of its provisions that do not comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and returns citizenship to some of the “Lost Canadians.”

Telegdi said: “It is appropriate that the Government tabled these amendments on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. These changes remove some of the archaic and discriminatory provisions in the Act that have arbitrarily denied and removed the citizenship of thousands of Canadians.” He further stated that:

“This year also marks the 60th anniversary Canada’s first Citizenship Act, the 30th anniversary of the 1977 Act and the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is time for a new, modernized Citizenship Act that is Charter compliant.”

In the last Parliament, the Citizenship Committee produced the October 2005 unanimous report titled: Updating Canada’s Citizenship Laws: It's Time and the June 2005 report titled: Citizenship Revocation: A Question of Due Process and Respecting Charter Rights that was concurred in by Parliament.

“The Conservatives, when in Opposition, unanimously supported using these reports as blueprints for drafting a new Citizenship Act. I call upon the Conservative Government to keep their promise and table a Citizenship Act that is Charter compliant. The Act should be clear, transparent and easily understood by the average Canadian. Furthermore, I call upon the government to create a stand alone Citizenship Department whose mandate would be to serve all Canadians and not only naturalized Canadians. Citizenship is one thing that all Canadians have in common,”
Telegdi said.

-30-