New law allowing revocation of Canadian citizenship comes into force

The Canadian federal government has the power now to revoke the citizenship of Canadians convicted of terrorism, treason or espionage as a new law allowing revocation of Canadian citizenship came into force Friday.

"Our Government's changes to the Citizenship Act will ensure that those who wish to do us harm will not be able to exploit their Canadian citizenship to endanger Canadians or our free and democratic way of life," said Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.

Under the new law, the Canadian federal government now is able to revoke citizenship from dual nationals convicted of terrorism, treason and high treason, and spying for foreign governments.

Canadian citizenship can now also be revoked from dual citizens for taking up arms against Canada and the Canadian Armed Forces, whether as a member of a foreign army or in non-state terrorist groups like ISIS.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials will be implementing the new law immediately and will prioritize cases that have been tried and convicted here in Canada on at least one of the grave crimes listed above.

However, the new law has met with strong public criticism, and two Canadian lawyers have launched a court case arguing it is unconstitutional. Endit