Bill C-6
The House of Commons passed an Act to amend the Citizenship Act (Bill C-6) without amendments on June 17, 2016. The primary objective of Bill C-6 is to return Canadian citizenship law to its state before the changes introduced by Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act.
The long-delayed citizenship bill
The bill has been before the Senate for a long time as it was being delayed by Tory procedural tactics. The Senate debated the legislation eight (8) times at second reading between September and December 2016. On April 6, 2017, the Senate’s third reading of the bill was still ongoing.
The Amendments Update
Finally, the Senate passed the bill with amendments on May 3, 2017. The full Senate has approved three (3) amendments:
- Restoration of procedural fairness in cases of fraud and misrepresentation;
- Raising the language and knowledge exemption age to 60; and
- Providing minors the right to submit an application on their own.
Consequently, the bill, which contains amendments to the Citizenship Act, continues to make its way through Parliament.
At last, the Bill C-6 has received Royal Assent on June 19, 2017!
However, some of the measures contained in the legislation will not come into force until later this year or early 2018.
