Citizenship test, language requirements stacked against women, advocates say
Born in India to Tibetan parents in exile, Tsesang Wangmo never went to school until she was sponsored to come to Canada in late 2013 by her husband, who arrived in Toronto earlier under Ottawa’s refugee sponsorship program.
The 39-year-old woman immediately enrolled herself in English classes, began working as a cleaner at a downtown office building by night, and took a second cleaning job on the weekend to support her family. Her husband is also a labourer.
Although Wangmo has been taking English classes five days a week for more than three years, her progress has been slow — she is still at level 2 or 3 out of 7, according to the government assessment system — because of the demands of her work and lack of previous education.
Even though she has already met the residency requirement to apply for citizenship — 1,095 days, under new legislation passed by Ottawa — Wangmo doesn’t have the minimum level 4 in English proficiency to qualify, or the time to attend community citizenship coaching programs that are offered only on the weekend.
“It’s my first time going to school. It is hard. If I don’t work, we have no money to pay rent and food,” Wangmo said through an interpreter. “You can’t play flute and eat tsampa (traditional Tibetan roasted barley) at the same time.” Wangmo is not alone. According to data obtained under a freedom of information request, far more women than men have their citizenship applications rejected because they are unable to meet the knowledge or language requirements.
Although the Liberal government passed a bill this month to relax some of the more stringent citizenship requirements imposed by its Conservative predecessor, critics say the changes fail to address the barriers faced by immigrant women hoping to acquire Canadian citizenship. Between 2007 and March 2017, more than 56,000 people had their citizenship applications refused, the majority of them for failing the language and knowledge requirements, said Jennifer Stone of Neighbourhood Legal Services, who requested the data after spotting a rising number of women coming to her office for help with their applications.
“Women and refugees are disproportionately affected by the language and knowledge requirements. Now we have data that could bear that out,” Stone said. “For them, it’s not a matter of won’t. It’s a matter of can’t.”
A gender breakdown of the refusals showed that 24,286, or 60 per cent, of the 41,071 who failed the citizenship knowledge test were women.
Of the 14,779 who failed the language requirement, 66 per cent, or 9,754, were female, according to the data.
Refugees appear to be disproportionally affected by the tightened citizenship requirements introduced by the former Conservative government: raising the passing mark for the citizenship exam, demanding proof of language proficiency and drastically increasing the non-refundable citizenship application fee to $530 from $100.
The number of refugees who obtained their citizenship dropped by 25 per cent to 20,059 between 2010 and 2015 from 26,725 between 2005 and 2009.
By comparison, the citizenship conversion rate for those who came under family reunification declined by 19.6 per cent while the number of new citizens who immigrated under the economic class went up by 0.9 per cent.
Tenzin Tekan, a community legal worker with a Parkdale legal clinic, said she was not surprised by the statistics.
“For someone with no formal education, it’s hard,” Tekan said. “We welcome the news about the changes (by the Liberals), but it’s not going to help everyone.”
Although there is a provision in the Citizenship Act that waives the knowledge requirement based on medical opinions that applicants will “never” pass the exam, it’s a long, tedious process.
Deli Hussan, a single mother of three children, twice had her citizenship application rejected. She attempted the knowledge exam six times, but the best she ever scored was 60 per cent, missing the 75-percent mark.
A dropout at Grade 5, the 33-yearold Iraqi woman was diagnosed with adjustment disorder, anxiety and a depressed mood — partially a result of past domestic abuse.
“I studied very hard, but I was sweating and shaking at the exam. I felt like I was going to die. I got more nervous every time because I was afraid I would fail again. It was crazy,” said Hussan, who was resettled to Canada in 2008 under Ottawa’s government refugee sponsorship program and applied for citizenship in 2011.
“I don’t feel safe to go anywhere without the citizenship. As a permanent resident, I am not protected. I would like to be able to vote in elections.”
Despite medical evidence from several psychiatrists, immigration officials refused to grant Hussan the waiver. She appealed to the Federal Court and the Immigration Department agreed to reconsider the decision. Hussan was finally granted her citizenship in late 2016.
The process only kicks in after three failed attempts to pass the test.
Under the Conservative government, between 200 and 400 waivers were granted yearly. In 2016, the Liberal government issued 2,378 waivers.