February 23, 2016

New Citizenship Revocation Regime Challenged in Federal Court

We, along with a number of other law firms, are challenging the new Section 10 revocation provisions among others of the Citizenship Act as amended by the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act.  In essence, Section 10(1) of the Citizenship Act has been amended to grant the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship the authority to decide most revocation cases without an oral hearing and without any guarantee the Applicant’s personal circumstances will be considered as is in the Applicants’ view, required by law. These changes eliminate both the involvement of the Federal Court, as well as the Governor in Council.  The Applicants are seeking a constitutional declaration and prohibition.

It has not yet been decided when the final date to join the litigation will be, but it is important for applicants facing revocation that they inquire to determine if they could benefit from joining this proceeding. Most notably, they can explore if a stay of the revocation process will apply to their respective cases while lead cases are litigated in the main proceeding.  The scope, timing, and administrative steps are still being negotiated by the parties through case managed proceedings.  The hearings will likely take place in the fall of 2016 in Toronto.

For more information on citizenship revocation, please click here.