Cracking Down On Canadian Citizenship Fraud Through Bill C-24

20 Feb 2014

Chris Alexander, the Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration supported the commitment of government to handle Canadian citizenship fraud. This will be done through the proposed measures from the “Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act’s” Bill C-24.

According to the new legislation, authority to establish regulations to appoint a regulatory body is given to the government of Canada. The members of this regulatory body will be commissioned to operate as consultants on matters involving Canadian citizenship. This change will prevent third-party fraud and help support applicants.

By cracking down on fraud, Bill C-24 emphasizes the value of Canadian citizenship and makes sure that Canadian citizenship is offered only to those individuals who play by the rules. Listed below are some of the proposed measures:

• For misrepresentation and fraud, stronger penalties of five years in prison and/or a maximum fine of $100,000 are being levied;
• To help enhance the integrity of the Canadian citizenship program, the grounds to bar a citizenship application have been expanded to include foreign criminality; and
• Unauthorized individuals who knowingly advice or represent someone on a Canadian Citizenship application for a fee, will be committing an offense.

Quick facts

• Over 5,000 permanent residents and 3,000 citizens were identified by RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) through their ongoing large-scale fraud investigations where majority of the apprehended individuals are related to residence.
• Additionally, around 2,000 individuals linked to the fraud investigations of citizenship have withdrawn their applications.