Canada Citizenship Act Receives Final Passage And Royal Assent

21 Jun 2014

New changes intended to improve the Canadian ‘Citizenship Act’ (Bill C-24) have received Royal Assent to reinforce the rules surrounding citizenship access, announced Canada’s minister of citizenship and immigration, Chris Alexander.

Chris Alexander said that the government hopes that new citizens will completely participate in their democratic life, economic potential and the government will be committed to integrate new citizens into their labor market making sure that they will be well prepared to take the responsibility of citizenship.

Significant reform to ‘Citizenship Act’ includes enhancing efficiency of the citizenship program by reducing the process of decision making. This change is anticipated to bring down the average processing time for citizenship applications to less than a year by 2015-2016. 

Through the reforms, Canadian government is making certain that citizenship applicants build strong relationship with Canada. This is indicated by a reform that says residence period requires physical presence in Canada to get eligible for citizenship. More applicants should fulfill language requirements and qualify a knowledge test to make sure that the new citizens will be well prepared to completely take part and integrate themselves into Canadian society.

Reformed ‘Citizenship Act’ includes punishment for breaking the rules by fraudulent activities by fine up to $100,000 or imprisonment for five years. Finally, these reforms aim to protect and promote the country’s interests and values.

Canadian citizenship is valued very much across the globe and the government intends to maintain it through these balanced series of reforms, said Chris Alexander.

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