Monsef case highlights key aspect of Bill C-24
Advocates argue legislation is patently unfair
OTTAWA • Maryam Monsef could be stripped of her citizenship without a hearing under a law the Liberals denounced while in opposition but which they have been enforcing aggressively since taking power, civil liberties and refugee lawyers say.
The democratic institutions minister revealed last week she was born in Iran, not Afghanistan as she had long believed. She said her mother, who fled Afghanistan with her daughters when Monsef was 11, didn’t think it mattered where the minister was born since she was still legally considered an Afghan citizen.
Monsef has said she will have to correct her birthplace information on her passport.
If Monsef’s birthplace was misrepresented on her citizenship application as well, that would be grounds for revocation of citizenship, regardless of whether it was an innocent mistake or her mother’s fault, said immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman.
And if the misrepresentation was on her permanent residence and refugee applications, she could even be deported, added Waldman, part of a group that launched a constitutional challenge of the law Monday.
The Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association argue the law, known as Bill C-24, is procedurally unfair and violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Josh Paterson, the BCCLA’s executive director, said Monsef’s case demonstrates the absurdity of the law.
“The minister’s situation ... is exactly the kind of situation that many other Canadians are facing right now because of this unjust process,” he said.
“When we get a parking ticket, we have a right to a court hearing ... You leave your garbage in the wrong place and you get a ticket, you have the right to a hearing and yet for citizens to lose their entitlement to membership in Canada based on allegations of something they may or may not have said 20 years ago, they have no hearing? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
When he was in opposition, John McCallum denounced the law as “dictatorial” and since becoming immigration minister, he’s promised to amend it to create an appeal process, Paterson said.
Nevertheless, repeated requests that the government stop enforcing the law until it can be changed have been ignored. As recently as two weeks ago, Paterson said Justice Department lawyers told his group the law would continue to be enforced.