Canada Appoints New Lady Senior Citizenship Judge

13 Jul 2013

Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister ,Jason Kenney announced the appointment of the Ms.Renata Brum Bozzi as the new Senior Citizenship Judge. She heads the Citizenship Commission, an administrative tribunal comprising all citizenship judges working across Canada.

A citizenship judge is a Canadian government official. She reviews all the application submitted for citizenship. She presides Citizenship Ceremonies to administer the Oath of Citizenship for new citizens.

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration appoints Citizenship judges.

There are 19 fulltime Citizenship Judges. Ms. Brum Bozzi’s is the 11th female citizenship Judge. Majority of the Citizenship judges, now are women.

“With her successful selection, 11 out of 19 full-time citizenship judges appointed by the  Governor in Council since 2008 are women,” said Minister Kenney. “In addition, the current makeup of the Citizenship Commission quite appropriately reflects Canada’s diversity.”

Ms. Brum Bozzi has a track record of being a Citizenship judge. She conducted more than 7,000 Citizenship hearings. She is a bilingual with English and French. She was often consulted by the Canadian government in matters of Immigration policy, jurisprudence, and legislative initiatives to combat fraud and reform the citizenship process.

Preceding her appointment as the new Senior Citizenship Judge she was a member of the Social security Tribunal.

Ms. Brum Bozzi was an immigrant herself. She was born in Portugal. Her family migrated to Canada when she was a child. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology. She also holds a Master of Arts from the Toronto School of Theology and a Certificate in Public Relations from the University of Toronto.

Ms. Brum Bozzi was associated with the Honorable Mr. Justice David M. Brown, now at the Ontario Superior Court. She assisted him in legal and policy research. Her wide community work has included the 820 Chris Hadfield Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron. She has 5 children. She is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian.

Ms. Brum Bozzi was elevated to the position of Senior Citizenship after a rigorous screening process. She was chosen from a list of qualified candidates, after undergoing a through rigorous screening, including a written exam, reference check and oral interview. She is appointed by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister. The term of the office is 5 years.

Ms. Brum Bozzi, as the Senior Citizenship Judge reports to Parliament through the Minister. She will be responsible for ensuring that all the citizenship judges perform their obligatory statutory and administrative duties in accordance to the Citizenship Act. She  is the liaison between judges, the Minister and departmental representatives on citizenship issues. The Senior Judge also is the spokesperson for the Commission. She manages the administrative and professional services that the Commission which are provided for judges.

Citizenship judges are responsible for following:

•             Making decisions on citizenship applications

•             Presiding over citizenship ceremonies

•             Administering the oath of citizenship to new citizens