The Senate amended the Citizenship Act, allowing citizenship judges to carry out their responsibilities through “electronic means.” .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the department of Immigration declined to provide any comments following its proposal for immigrants to swear their allegiance to Canada by simply clicking a box on a federal website..The amendment, which was part of the 430-page omnibus budget bill known as Bill C-47, was passed as a single sentence. The Senate voted 50 to 16 to pass the bill into law. No senator or MP made any comments on the reference..The amendment under Division 19 of the bill states: “A citizenship judge and the Registrar of Canadian Citizenship may in the exercise of their powers and performance of their duties and functions of this act use the electronic means that are made available or specified by the minister.”.Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s department refused numerous requests to explain whether it intended to eliminate in-person ceremonies as a legal requirement to obtain citizenship. .“Technology offers the potential to vastly transform client service,” the department wrote in a legal notice last February 25..Since implementing the Citizenship Act in 1947, the public swearing of an oath has been a compulsory requirement. The department proposed a new approach in a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement. It suggested the introduction of an online platform for individuals to self-administer the Oath of Citizenship..“Under the proposed regulations, the minister of Immigration would have broad discretion to allow clients to take the oath by other means and not necessarily before an authorized individual,” said the Analysis Statement. Applicants would still be required to pay a $630 fee and pass a citizenship test..According to official estimates, 367,405 individuals became new citizens in 2022. There were a total of 3,742 ceremonies, approximately 72 per week. These ceremonies were in-person and video conferences. All are presided over by a citizenship judge..The initial proposal for click-box citizenship prompted a public outcry..“The negative concerns I have heard about this idea are legion,” then-senator Patricia Bovey (MB) said on March 21. Real ceremonies requiring that immigrants raise their right hand and swear allegiance to Canada were “truly moving.”.The current oath states. “I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, King of Canada, his heirs and successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada, including the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen.”
