Bill C-6 makes several changes to the Citizenship Act. It removes some reasons why a person's Canadian citizenship could be taken away, specifically those related to national security. The bill also removes the requirement that people who want to become citizens must plan to continue living in Canada.
It makes it easier to become a citizen by reducing the amount of time someone needs to be physically present in Canada before applying. Time spent in Canada as a temporary resident or protected person can now be counted towards the physical presence requirement. The bill also narrows the age range for applicants who need to demonstrate their knowledge of Canada and one of its official languages to between 18 and 54 years old.
The bill allows the Minister to take documents if there's a good reason to believe they were obtained or used improperly. It also changes the way citizenship can be revoked if someone made false statements or hid important information. Finally, the bill removes the age requirement of 18 for someone to be granted citizenship under subsection 5(1) of the Citizenship Act.
In addition to these changes, the bill also makes some related changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to align with the updates to the Citizenship Act. There are also transitional provisions included in the bill that address how the changes will apply to applications that were already in progress when the new rules came into effect. The bill also includes a section regarding the prohibition on taking the oath of citizenship.
Crime
The bill modifies the grounds for inadmissibility based on security grounds, human rights violations, or organized criminality, as they relate to obtaining, retaining, renouncing, or resuming citizenship through fraudulent means. It also specifies that periods of time spent under a probation order, as a paroled inmate, or serving a term of imprisonment will not be counted as periods of physical presence in Canada for citizenship eligibility.