Feds stall on new study guide
OTTAWA • It’s been more than two years since work began on revising the controversial study guide for Canada’s citizenship test, but the federal government says it needs more time to work on the publication and has no set timeline for release.
Internal emails from the Immigration department dating back to 2016 show officials were hoping the launch of the new guide could coincide with Canada 150 celebrations and the 70th anniversary of the Citizenship Act — events that took place over a year ago.
But so far, no official guide has materialized.
Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel says she believes bureaucrats were sent back to the drawing board after a draft copy of the revised guide, obtained last year by The Canadian Press, revealed the department had removed references to barbaric cultural practices, including female genital mutilation, as being against Canadian law — references that were added by the Stephen Harper government in 2011.
“The immigration minister’s response to the issue around removing the language about female genital mutilation being a very intolerable practice from the citizenship guide, his delay and his response, I would surmise, didn’t go well within the prime minister’s office,” Rempel said.
“I think probably he mishandled that so badly they’re delaying any sort of output.”
The internal emails from 2016, obtained through access to information law, show bureaucrats were working on developing a “full refresh” of the official citizenship study guide, entitled Discover Canada.
The draft copy, obtained and reported on last year by The Canadian Press, shows substantive additions made to the guide regarding the history and present-day lives of Indigenous Peoples, including multiple references to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report on residential schools and a lengthy section on what happened at those schools.