More than 360,000 immigrants to Canada swore the citizenship oath at ceremonies last year. The data comes as Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) proposes to replace the 76-year tradition with a check box on a federal website.
In 2022, a total of 367,405 people took the citizenship oath, and 3,712 ceremonies were held, according to an Inquiry of Ministry obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. The data was requested by Conservative MP Tom Kmiec, asking, “With regard to citizenship ceremonies completed in 2022, how many individuals became Canadian citizens at ceremonies?”
Amendments to the
Citizenship Regulations would give the government “broad discretion to allow clients to take the Oath by other means and not necessarily before an authorized individual,”
according to a Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement from the IRCC obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. Foreigners who completed their tests and paid a $630 fee would be permitted to take a check-box oath on a department website.
The proposal has prompted criticism from parliamentarians.
“The negative concerns I have heard about this idea are legion, so much so that I attended a live citizenship ceremony again,” Sen. Patricia Bovey
said in the Senate on March 21.
“It was truly moving to hear all in the room take the oath, to witness the individual certificate presentations and see the photos—all very important aspects of the event that would be missed by merely signing an online form at home.”
In response, Sen. Marc Gold, the
government representative in the Senate, said qualified immigrants “will continue to have the choice and the option to swear or affirm their Oath Of Citizenship before a citizenship judge,” but didn’t rule out a website check box.
“There is consultation going on now with regard to other proposed changes to the Citizenship Act that may be appropriate—in terms of other processes,” he said.
Swearing the oath has been a legal requirement for new citizens since 1947.
“One of the most wonderful things about becoming a Canadian is the citizenship ceremony,” former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson wrote in a recent commentary in
the Globe and Mail. “Citizens know they are doing something meaningful.”
“It is important,” she wrote. “Everyone who is sworn in across the country as citizens recognizes the others around them are people who, like them, have taken the risk of leaving their own country with the courage to come and make a new life in Canada.”
Current Citizenship Regulations state new Canadians must attend a ceremony before a public office holder, raise their right hand, and
state: “I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, King of Canada, his heirs and successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada including the Constitution which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.”
Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.
