The moment Suzanne Bitye was handed her citizenship certificate Friday, she pulled it toward her heart and held it there for a moment with a broad smile on her face. The ceremony in which Bitye pledged her allegiance to Canada was held in a windowless room in the bowels of a government building in Ottawa,…

After 76 years of traditional citizenship ceremonies, new Canadians will no longer have to publicly swear an oath to become a citizen as of July 1, under proposed changes to citizenship regulations. In a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement published in the Canada Gazette on Feb. 25, the federal Department of Citizenship and Immigration detailed amendments…

Cases of suspected “birth tourism” happening on Canadian soil are estimated to be about 2,500 a year, according to a report by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Published in September 2022, the report said the number of estimated deliveries by short term visitors, i.e. “residual” deliveries, shows an upward trend in recent years, “from…

StatCan numbers reveal the percentage of permanent residents who become Canadians has plummeted over the past 20 years. The Institute for Canadian Citizenship says Statistics Canada data points to a 40 percent decline in citizenship uptake since 2001. The group’s CEO, Daniel Bernhard, calls the drop alarming and says it should serve as a “wake…

Hong Kong actor, singer, and TV host Nicholas Tse told China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV on Sunday that he had applied to renounce his Canadian citizenship. Tse’s action follows a rumor that the Chinese regime might ban foreign citizens from being movie actors in China. China’s state-controlled media recently listed over 40 famous movie directors and actors who…