Analysis Of Bill C-24: The Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act

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Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act is an enactment that amends Canada’s Citizenship Act. It was introduced in February 2014 and became law on June 20th, 2014. This new law changes the core aspects of Canadian citizenship as Chris Alexander, the current Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, announced that citizenship is not a right but a privilege. Bill C-24 redefines the meaning of a Canadian and introduces negative impact to Canadians and applicants. In this paper, I will compare and contrast the former Citizenship Act with the current. Drawing on course readings and outside sources, I argue that Bill C-24 serves to control the immigrant population by introducing the knowledge and language requirements and citizenship …show more content…

Bill C-24 introduces reforms that undermine the fundamental rights of many Canadians and presents more difficult requirements for applicants. Under the former Act, citizenship applicants only needed to reside in Canada for three out of four years which is a minimum of 1,095 days. The current Act introduces a more lengthy residency requirement by requiring applicants to be physically present in Canada for four out of six years, and applicants must also provide an “intent to reside” statement (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2014, February 6). The former Act barred applicants who had domestic criminal charges and convictions. The current Act expands the bar to applicants with foreign criminal charges and convictions (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2014, February 6). The former Act established no authority to …show more content…

According to Paquet (2012), the citizenship test is both an instrument for citizenship promotion as well as a potential way to control citizenship acquisition. Citizenship tests can be the instruments of a multiplicity of policies beside civic integration (Paquet, 2012). Access to the test is limited only to those who meet the basic requirements for citizenship, therefore access to it is highly controlled by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Paquet (2012) also argues that the nature of citizenship tests is to act as a means of selection or a decision-making tool to deal with citizenship applications. The language test is a test in addition to the citizenship test. Applicants must take the language test before they submit their application and provide proof that they have passed it. The test serves as an active instrument at the start of the citizenship process, and acts as a way to reject those who do not qualify. The language test serves as a gatekeeper for citizenship acquisition as applicants are required to have adequate knowledge of one of Canada’s two official