Assam register: Four million risk losing India citizenship

India has published a list which effectively strips about four million people in the north-eastern state of Assam of their citizenship.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a list of people who can prove they came to the state by 24 March 1971, a day before neighbouring Bangladesh declared independence.

India says the process is needed to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

The Supreme Court Defends the Integrity of U.S. Citizenship

The U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the scope under which the federal government can strip naturalized Americans of their citizenship on Thursday, ruling that false statements made during the naturalization process had to be relevant to gaining citizenship in order to justify revoking it later.

Justice Elena Kagan, writing for a unanimous Court in Maslenjuk v. United States, said that using small omissions or minor lies to denaturalize immigrants went beyond what Congress authorized. “The statute it passed, most naturally read, strips a person of citizenship not when she committed any illegal act during the naturalization process, but only when that act played some role in her naturalization,” she wrote.

Zakaria Amara, Toronto 18 Plotter Stripped Of Citzenship, May Have Had Privacy Breached

OTTAWA — Federal officials are investigating an apparent privacy breach involving an imprisoned terrorist who was stripped of his citizenship.

Zakaria Amara's receipt of a government letter informing him he no longer held Canadian citizenship was promptly reported in the media late last month and soon after confirmed by a Conservative cabinet minister in the middle of a closely fought election campaign.

Misbahuddin Ahmed Challenging Ottawa's Move To Revoke His Citizenship

OTTAWA — An Ottawa man serving time for his part in a homegrown terror conspiracy is asking a court to halt the federal government's attempt to strip him of Canadian citizenship.

In an application to the Federal Court of Canada, Misbahuddin Ahmed says the government is relying on unconstitutional provisions to revoke his citizenship.

Tories move to strip citizenship from Canadian-born terrorist

The Harper government is attempting to revoke the citizenship of a convicted terrorist who was born and raised in Canada, Maclean’s has learned—a first under a controversial new law that has triggered intense debate during the election campaign.

Saad Gaya, 27, is believed to be the only Canadian-born citizen (terrorist or not) to ever face the prospect of being stripped of his citizenship. Until now, there was no legal mechanism to undo what has long been considered an irreversible birthright.

Bill C-24: Trudeau Says Terrorists Shouldn't Be Stripped Of Citizenship In Leaked Audio

An audio recording of Justin Trudeau explaining why convicted terrorists should not be stripped of their Canadian citizenship has been leaked by Conservatives ahead of a key leaders' debate on foreign policy.

CTV News reported Sunday that the three-minute clip was recorded at a Winnipeg town hall in July.

In the recording, a man is heard asking the Liberal leader about Bill C-24, a controversial piece of legislation the man deems "absolutely disgusting."

Woman, 99, denied citizenship despite living in Canada since 1933

A 99-year-old woman is going public after she was denied Canadian citizenship and a health card despite living in Canada for more than 80 years.

Joan Stirling's application was rejected by Citizenship and Immigration Canada because she  couldn't produce a specific piece of identification — her birth certificate from almost a century ago.

We Are Citizens, Not Just Taxpayers

These days, it's more likely to hear politicians and the media refer to us as "taxpayers" rather than "citizens." Such political discourse assumes that every voter is asking "what's in it for me?" instead of "what's in it for everyone?" As citizens, we have rights and responsibilities to each other. Paying our taxes is just one part of citizenship.

Taxes are a way to pool our resources and develop common infrastructure that can have a positive impact on us all. They build our roads and bridges, pay for our police and firefighters, offer support for raising children, provide income security and housing for people who are poor, contribute to foreign aid, and help to ensure our environment is clean and safe. All of these things are much cheaper and effective when we pay for them collectively. The taxes paid by previous generation benefits us today and the taxes we pay will hopefully benefit the generations of tomorrow.

Canadian Dad Demands Citizenship For Son Ensnared In Rule Changes

TORONTO - Paul Compton has done exactly what the federal government recommended to get his son recognized as a Canadian citizen, but his problems have yet to be solved.

For the past five years the Ontario native has been corresponding with public servants, appealing to politicians and even relocated his family in a bid to rectify what he views as an unjust and precarious situation — now, he's demanding action.

"They've been able to take away the rights of citizenship to my son," Compton told The Canadian Press. "I will not allow the Canadian government to do this."

Canadian dad whose son is ensnared in rule changes demands citizenship for son

TORONTO - Paul Compton has done exactly what the federal government recommended to get his son recognized as a Canadian citizen, but his problems have yet to be solved.

For the past five years the Ontario native has been corresponding with public servants, appealing to politicians and even relocated his family in a bid to rectify what he views as an unjust and precarious situation — now, he's demanding action.

"They've been able to take away the rights of citizenship to my son," Compton told The Canadian Press. "I will not allow the Canadian government to do this."

Canada faces dramatic drop in citizenship, prompting concerns about disengaged immigrants

The percentage of immigrants who become citizens has been dropping dramatically in recent years — from 79 per cent to 26 per cent among people who arrived between 2000 and 2008.

Sounding the alarm is former citizenship director-general Andrew Griffith, who suggests that recent reforms which raised barriers to becoming a citizen could lead to immigrants’ widespread disengagement from Canadian public life and identity.

His analysis — part of his study being presented at a conference this week — of the impact of the Conservatives’ reforms also suggests that the new version of the citizenship test has adversely affected applicants from visible minorities more than those with European roots.

Citizenship Minister Chris Alexander delivers a troubling speech on Ukraine

One of the principal talking points of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his supporters in the federal election campaign that is now for all intents and purposes under way is that the Conservatives are statesmanlike and mature, while Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is a crazy kid who could do or say anything and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is an angry old man.

But when the media's not around, nobody can match our Conservatives for recklessly immature and angry rhetoric.

Canada made Deepan Budlakoti stateless. Now it is denying him health care.

Imagine being 23 years old, born and raised in Canada, and then waking up one morning to the news that your citizenship has been stripped in the only country you have ever called home.

That is Deepan Budlakoti's story.

Born to Indian working class parents, growing up in the suburbs of Toronto, the first few years of Budlakoti's life read like that of any child of immigrant parents. But in 2010, Budlakoti's world as he knew it came to a screeching halt, and what happened after should give us all cause for concern.

Obama Administration Using Century-Old Racist Case Law to Block Citizenship

Well, this is awkward. This month, five people from American Samoa—the only place in the world where babies born on US soil are denied US citizenship—argued in federal court that the government's refusal to grant them birthright citizenship violates the Constitution. On the other side of the case is the Obama administration, which cited century-old Supreme Court decisions that spoke of "savage," "uncivilized," and "alien races"—and many legal scholars now see as outright racist—to justify continuing to deny citizenship to these US nationals.

Do Tories Want To Ban Headscarves At Citizenship Ceremonies Now?

OTTAWA — Immigration Minister Chris Alexander suggested Wednesday that he does not want Muslim women to wear traditional headscarves during citizenship ceremonies.

“Niqab, hejab, burqa, wedding veil – face coverings have no place in cit[izenship] oath-taking!” the minister tweeted.

@gmbutts Defending indefensible -- a Lib tradition! Niqab, hejab, burqa, wedding veil -- face coverings have no place in cit oath-taking!
— Chris Alexander (@calxandr) February 18, 2015
While the burka and the niqab cover a woman’s face and are not commonly worn in Canada, the hijab is a headscarf that doesn’t cover the face and is worn by many Muslim women.

Harper: Government To Appeal Ruling Allowing Niqabs During Citizenship Oath

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the government will appeal a Federal Court ruling that would allow someone to take the oath of citizenship with their faces covered.

A federal judge ruled in Ottawa last week that a portion of the law requiring citizenship candidates to remove their face coverings while taking the oath was unlawful.

The case had been brought on by Zunera Ishaq, a Pakistani national who had sued the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration claiming the government's policy on veils violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Ottawa hiking citizenship fees for second time in a year

Starting Jan. 1, Ottawa will raise the citizenship application fee — the second time in less than a year — to $530 per adult, making Canadian citizenship further out of reach for many of marginalized communities.

In February, Citizenship and Immigration Canada already increased the fee from $100 to $300 in order to recover its administrative costs. The upcoming raise means it will now cost applicants five times the money for their citizenship applications within a year. Successful candidates must also pay another $100 rights of citizenship fee to become citizens.

Melanie Atcovitch and baby expelled from citizenship ceremony

Montreal resident Melanie Atcovitch is fuming after being asked to leave her husband’s citizenship ceremony because her infant child was babbling.

Atcovich attended her husband Peter George’s citizenship ceremony with her six-month-old infant.

When the baby started gurgling and babbling at the beginning of the citizenship ceremony, she was asked to leave by an official at the ceremony.

Lost Canadians file petition challenging federal government's interpretation of citizenship history

Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May filed a petition today on behalf of the Lost Canadians, a citizenship advocacy group, challenging the federal government’s version of the history of Canadian citizenship. The government must respond to the petition within 60 days.

Lost Canadians are a group of legitimate Canadians who have been denied citizenship due to obscure provisions of previous laws, which discriminate based on age, gender, ethnicity and marital status.

Last month, a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada suggested the legal concept of Canadian citizenship has existed only since January 1, 1947 -- the date that Canada's Citizenship Act came into effect.

Critic slams Canada's "shameful" citizenship policy

Citizenship advocate Don Chapman criticized Canada's Citizenship and Immigration as "shameful" yesterday for its rejections of citizenship applications from legitimate Canadians despite repeatedly promising to correct the law.

"It's shameful," Chapman said. "We did everything Citizenship and Immigration asked of us, paid their ($400) fees, and now they talk about deporting Donovan McGlaughlin."