ARCHIVED – Speaking notes for The Honourable Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P. Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

This morning, I have an important announcement about our government’s efforts to protect the value of Canadian citizenship.

Canada is one of the most open and generous countries in the world toward newcomers. Our government has been maintaining the highest sustained levels of immigration in Canadian history, and the highest per capita levels of immigration in the developed world. We also have the highest percentage of immigrants who go on to become Canadian citizens, reflecting Canada’s traditional openness to the contributions of newcomers in building our country and we’re proud of that fact. In fact, over 80 per cent of permanent residents go on to become Canadian citizens – some 160,000 a year take the oath of citizenship, proudly proclaiming their allegiance to Canada as their new country. And I can tell you, it’s certainly one of the most moving experiences that I have and one of the greatest privileges I have – welcoming many of those individuals to the Canadian family.

They – more than most perhaps – understand the value of Canadian citizenship and wish to protect it, to strengthen it and to deepen it. And that is why our government, three years ago, launched the Citizenship Action Plan, whose key objective was to strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship. We did so firstly through ensuring that we meet the statutory requirement for new citizens to speak one of our two official languages, to have knowledge of Canada, and to have resided in Canada for three out of four years prior to their application for citizenship.

That is why, for example, we’re bringing into place a new standardized language proficiency test, to ensure that newcomers speak one of our two official languages, with exemption for people who currently are under the age of 18 or over the age of 55. Secondly, it’s why we’ve brought in the new and more meaningful knowledge test, based on the study guide Discover Canada, which ensures that newcomers are really equipped with a strong knowledge of Canada’s historically grounded values, symbols, institutions and democratic values. But it’s also why we’ve taken a real focus on combating fraud in meeting the residency requirement to be a Canadian citizen.

The Citizenship Act, since 1977, has required that a permanent resident reside in Canada for three out of four years prior to becoming citizens. Unfortunately, there is a global industry of unscrupulous, unethical immigration and citizenship agents posing as bona fide consultants, who will sell people advice on how to scam the Canadian system. They will typically coach people to establish a fake proof of residency in Canada in order to apply for and obtain citizenship, which comes with certain obvious huge advantages.

In many jurisdictions around the world, simply having a Canadian passport can double your salary. It can give you access to some of the highest quality healthcare in the world at no cost. It can give your children access to subsidized post-secondary education at our excellent colleges and universities, and of course, can represent a political insurance policy. Now that is not the point of Canadian citizenship.

We’re here today once again to say that Canadian citizenship is not for sale. We will continue to take strong measures to combat the industry of crooked immigration agencies, here and abroad, who seek to devalue Canadian citizenship by creating fake proof of residency and committing other forms of fraud.

This is something that was taken on with vigor by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency when we asked that they prioritize fraud in our citizenship program. So starting three years ago, they launched major criminal investigations and they’ve discovered that individuals pay upwards of $25,000 over four or more years to maintain the illusion of residence in Canada.

We’re taking action to strip citizenship and permanent residence status from people who do not play by the rules and who lie or cheat to become Canadian citizens. I first announced our investigation into residence fraud last year and those investigations continue. My department is now investigating nearly 11,000 individuals from more than 100 countries for attempting to cheat Canada and Canadians.  We’re identified up to 3,100 Canadian citizens who may have obtained their citizenship fraudulently and we will pursue revocation for those who have.

We’ve also flagged in our systems nearly 5,000 permanent residents who are known to have been implicated in residence fraud. Most of these individuals are believed to be outside the country and have never really lived here, but if they attempt to enter Canada or to obtain citizenship, they will be subject to additional scrutiny thanks to these investigations.

Finally, we’ve also identified another 2,500 people with whom, for various reasons, we have concerns. These individuals will be watched closely should they make future applications. To date, thanks to these investigations, we’ve removed or denied admission to Canada to more than 600 former permanent residents and we’ve denied about 500 citizenship applications where the applicants failed to meet the residence requirements. We’ve also commenced revocation proceedings against some 600 people who we believe obtained it fraudulently.

It’s also worth nothing that so far, almost 1,800 people linked to residence fraud investigations have withdrawn or abandoned their citizenship applications. This is an important point because it demonstrates that just by raising the level of our vigilance and by having launched these investigations, many of those who were beginning to commit this fraud have realized that they are likely to be caught and have withdrawn their applications.

I encourage anyone who has information regarding citizenship or residence fraud to report it to Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s citizenship fraud tip line. Citizenship is at the heart of our identity as Canadians and the government of Canada will continue to protect its value and to take action against those who try to cheat their way into citizenship.  If you want to become a Canadian citizen, we merely ask that you play by the rules as the vast majority of people do, respect our country, and you have to be honest.

Canadian citizenship is not for sale.