Communications 220 Assignment Paper: The Policy Process

Communication 220
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Introduction
Canadian citizenship is attributed by the state membership in the Canadian community, and it involves the Canadian citizens sharing sovereignty and a social contract among the individuals and the society. The benefits from this contract include the right to vote, the right to stay or move in to Canada, and the right to travel with a Canadian passport. Getting a Canadian citizenship symbolizes one`s connexion to the county, and their obligation to communal views like minority right, respect for diversity, the rights and freedom charter, and the rule of law.
The policy process
After Canada achieved confederation in 1867, the United Kingdom and Canada were categorized as British Subjects under the new Dominican Nationality Law. Canada however, got the authority from section 91(25) of the British North America Act, over naturalization and aliens. In 1991, the Immigration Act developed the Canadian citizen status which differentiated British subjects that were born, naturalized, and domiciled in Canada, and the British subjects that were not. In 1914, the Naturalization Act increased the period of time from 3 to 5 years of residency, and that would make one qualify for Canadian naturalization as a British subject. After the first and second world war, there was a desire for Canadian sovereign status. This, in addition to the Nationality Law, led to the creation of the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946, and this Act started working from January 1st 1947. The Act marked the status of Canadian citizenship as opposed to British Subjects. It played an important part in the advancement of the Canadian National Identity.
Canadian Citizenship Act
In February 1977, when the Citizenship Act was enforced, multiple citizenship were legalized and there was retention of the first and subsequent generation born outside Canada, hence loss of citizenship. These Canadians that had lost their Canadian citizenship would not restore it until April 2009, when Bill C-37: an Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (April 17, 2009) became a law and it limited issuing citizenship to children that were not born in Canada or to Canadian families. The revision of citizen legislation was widely recognized and in 1988, the Canadian government desired to amend the Citizenship Act through releasing a paper, Proud to Be Canadian. The public responded to it, but there was no legislation enacted. In 1993, the new elected government wanted to modernize the citizenship laws, and so, the Canadian citizenship reports were tabled in the House of Commons, but none of the bills were ever passed. Bill C-63, died on the order paper. Then Bill C-16 was introduced, but it also died on the senate order paper after passing the third reading stage. Bill C-18 titled an Act Respecting Canadian Citizenship, clarified on residency requirements of three years of residency within the previous six years, but it also died when legislation was not completed in late 2003.
In 2004, the minister of Citizenship and Immigration responded to the forthcoming legislation on citizenship law that recommended for, no more probationary citizenship status; citizenship to be seen as a right and not a pr...