PROVINCE SUPPORTS CITIZENSHIP PROPOSALS.

Saskatchewan Economy Minister Bill Boyd says the provincial government is generally supportive of proposed changes to citizenship rules introduced by the federal government Thursday.

“We haven’t seen the bill, but I would say in general comment, we would be supportive of what the federal government is looking at here, particularly if it results in a streamlined situation where processing takes less time, it results in a higher-qualified person coming forward into the system here in Saskatchewan. But one of the challenges that we face here in our province is we’ve got a huge backlog of jobs, and so if this helps, we certainly would be supportive,” Boyd said.

On Thursday, the federal government tabled sweeping legislation that will triple the cost of citizenship, make it harder to become a Canadian citizen — including requiring a longer residency period — and toughen the penalties for fraud, among other changes.

Boyd said he doesn’t think the changes will discourage people from seeking to become Canadians.

“I think that Canadian citizenship is obviously very highly valued around the world. We’ve seen large numbers of people still wanting to access citizenship here in Canada, so I’m not sure that would be impacted in the future,” the minister said.

Mahasti Khakpour, executive director of the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association, said Thursday that she can see both pros and cons in the changes.

“One thing we were facing was the length of the time that some of our clients are eligible to receive services. If their status is changing from permanent resident to citizen, they’re not eligible for some of our services, including our English language classes, if they are federally funded. So one pro I can see toward this change is accessing the services for a longer period before they become citizens,” she said.

There are potential negatives, Khakpour added.

The majority of people coming to Canada “want to make a new life in this country” and aren’t looking to spend time elsewhere while becoming Canadian citizens, so she isn’t sure why the changes regarding time physically spent in Canada are necessary, she said.

Also concerning are the costs for families with multiple members — the price of applying for citizenship would climb to $300 from $100 — and how the new rules affect international PhD students who might want to become Canadian citizens, but have to do post-doctoral work abroad, Khakpour said.