Is Trudeau Really Revoking Citizenships at Record Rates?

Under Justin Trudeau, the Canadian government has revoked 184 citizenships. According to a CBC report released today, that's nearly as many revocations as the previous 27 years put together.

These numbers may come as a surprise to anyone who has heard the prime minister speak on refugee and immigration issues. The CBC story sets Trudeau up as an opponent of citizenship revocation in the context of Bill C-24, which came into force in June 2015, and gave the government new powers to strip citizenship from Canadians convicted of terrorism.

But Howard Anglin, former chief of staff to Jason Kenney's immigration ministry from 2011 to 2013, believes the uptick in citizenship revocations has little to do with Bill C-24 or marching orders from Trudeau. Anglin told VICE the jump from an average of 2.4 to 13 revocations per month under Trudeau is likely a holdover from the previous government.

Immigration spokesperson Nancy Caron told CBC the revocations are due to large-scale residency fraud investigations in partnership with border services and the RCMP. VICE reached out to the ministry but did not immediately hear back.

Anglin says those investigations began under Kenney's watch, and apply rules that have been on the books since Canada's first citizenship laws. He suggests many cases are non-refugees applying for citizenship that have provided false proof of residence in Canada.

"This was an effort to tackle crooked immigration consultants, and on the other hand make examples of some people who were lying their way into the country," Anglin said, adding he "strongly suspects" those years-old investigations are finally coming to an end. "Investigations take ages. There's a natural slowness that comes with bureaucracy and a desire to get it right."

In the midst of this, civil liberties groups have launched a constitutional challenge against citizenship revocation without legal hearings, particularly in cases where applicants misrepresented facts. The case has been linked to Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef's confusion over her birthplace—a mistake to be taken in context of challenging conditions. The BC Civil Liberties Association has said her citizenship could be revoked without a hearing under current rules.

Read More: Is the Controversy Over Maryam Monsef's Birthplace Just a Racist Witch Hunt?

While Trudeau may not be totally responsible for starting the recent wave of citizenship revocations, he did decline to stop it. On Friday, the Liberal government filed documents stating it would not heed demands for a moratorium on revocations in cases of misrepresentation until the case is settled in court.

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