Citizenship Not For Sale

So "Canadian citizenship is not for sale", according to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Actually, it is. Although there is a list of criteria and points to be added up when considering whether an applicant is eligible for immigration to Canada, the process can be circumvented if an applicant is wealthy and can assure the immigration officer that it is his intention to invest heavily in Canada. To open a business, to create employment, to enrich Canada by his entrepreneurial presence.

It is, in fact, what wealthy Chinese from Hong Kong did in the psychologically unstable period before Britain officially handed over the administration and effective 'ownership' of Hong Kong to China. Uncertain of their future under the Government of China, although Beijing did its best to quell fears by assuring the residents and businesspeople of Hong Kong that nothing would change; their lifestyle and wealth-making would continue to the benefit of China, being the only change.

Still, the cosmopolitan and wealthy residents of Hong Kong felt uncertain, and so they took steps to 'emigrate' to Canada, to apply for landed immigrant status, and then citizenship. As insurance. Just in case. In many instances, the family split up, with the wife and children remaining in Canada and the husband-and-earner returning to Hong Kong. Until the switchover occurred and China's promise to Hong Kong was seen to be more than adequately fulfilled.

But there was nothing illegal in all of this; would-be immigrants from Hong Kong obeyed the letter of the law, for truth is, the Government of Canada saw them as an economic bonus to Canada, and with their wealth they were. The 'insurance' of visiting Canada and having one's baby born in Canada would grant automatic citizenship to the child. With their wealth, furthermore, they were fully capable of buying their way into Canadian citizenship. It was a relationship made in Immigration heaven.

Which is not to say that all such transactions are above-board and licit, for they are not. From the arranged quickie marriages that are readily dissolved once someone sponsors a spouse for immigration, the families who pledge to sponsor and materially assist extended family and then drop their responsibility, to the many enabling immigration lawyers and consultants who advise immigrants just how they may conveniently circumvent the law by false testimonials and cheating of various types, none of which are a great secret.

Because these under-handed methods of obtaining status work and work very well in large part, they become legend, and Canada has become known as an easy country to get into, one whose universal social programs are well worth the effort of establishing oneself there, particularly for those coming from countries whose governments are autocratic, where human rights observances are casual, and social unrest and great poverty is common.

And then there are those who live in countries that have been torn by civil war, and whose country is not yet stable, and may never again achieve stability, where tribal and clan loyalties, and religious antipathies ensure continued unrest and much worse. People can claim refugee status, or present themselves as emigrants wishing to avail themselves of what Canada has to offer as economic migrants.

If they qualify, they have recognized status. And again, in many instances these are people seeking status to take advantage of social benefits like Canada's universal medicare system. So they give short shrift to the need to live within Canada for an uninterrupted period of two to three years in a five-year period, shuttling back and forth, and in the process, obtaining sometimes false certification qualifying them for status.

Lebanese-Canadians represent a contingent who travel frequently from Canada back to Lebanon, and many remain there, living in the country of their birth, knowing that should hostilities erupt of a really violent nature, as it did when Israel fought Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Government of Canada would be obligated to emergency-evacuate Canadian citizens. Costly to Canada, cozily comforting to those caught in the maelstrom of violence.

Organized schemes have been revealed, not necessarily because Immigration authorities have been able to detect them on their own, but because members of the wider Canadian community have knowledge of skulduggery and report these things to the authorities. And so it was that a Montreal immigration consultant, Nizar Zakka, was revealed to have provided immigrants with false evidence to qualify them for status.

And citizenship fraud cases linked to Mr. Zakka were also revealed to involve a Halifax consultant, Hassan Al-Awaid, charged with citizenship fraud offences. Another consultant from Mississauga remains under investigation, thanks to the newly-instituted citizenship fraud tip line. A result of which letters are being forwarded to 6,500 people informing them that their citizenship or permanent resident status is being revoked, as a result of fraud.

Tellingly, most of those being accused of fraudulently obtaining the legitimacy of status, where their Canadian passports will be voided and they will be stripped of all rights and privileges of citizenship or permanent resident status do not actually live in Canada. They have up to 60 days to appeal to the Federal Court of Canada, and many likely will, stringing out the process for years, if past experience is any measure of expectations.

The government is focusing on those who have been busy helping applicants "create the appearance they were residing in Canada in order to keep their permanent resident status, and ultimately attempt to acquire citizenship". The Cracking Down on Crooked Consultants Act, imposing tough penalties for immigration consultants convicted of fraud, including fines and/or prison could not have come soon enough.