Bill C-8: Asking the Minister of Immigration about the New Citizenship Oath

On June 10, 2021, Senator Omidvar asked the Honourable Marco Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, about Bill C-8, which amends the Citizenship Act to include, in the Oath or Affirmation of Citizenship, a solemn promise to respect the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Watch their conversation:

Senator Omidvar: Thank you, minister, for being with us today. This bill is about Canada. It’s about the rightful place of Indigenous peoples in our country and in our oath. But it is also about new Canadians who ultimately will swear the oath. I want to ask you what consultations you had with immigrant communities. What did you hear from them about this amendment?

Mr. Mendicino: I want to thank you, senator, for your question. I also want to thank you for your advocacy. I have to tell you that in our conversations I’ve always felt that you have helped me do my job. Certainly, that applies to this bill.

Throughout the course of my remarks this morning and in my prior exchanges, I’ve said that in the stages leading up to the putting of this bill before this chamber, we did undertake a number of exercises to do outreach with Indigenous leaders across the country but also with advocates in the immigration space.

As we have explained before, we reached out to work with settlement service providers and organizations that represent and advocate for refugees and asylum seekers in an effort to understand how we could best educate newcomers to Canada about Indigenous peoples. As you pointed out, understanding our history is such a critical part of becoming Canadian — not only our history but our present, and Indigenous peoples are obviously an essential part of that.

Senator Omidvar: Thank you. I’m glad to hear that you consulted with them.

Senator Omidvar: You talked about education, so let me stay on that strain. I hope you will agree that by the time an immigrant gets to the stage of citizenship — it’s normally four years by the time everything is done — it may be time lost. Would you then agree that integration, which starts on day one, would go hand in hand with reconciliation? What can you tell me about your plans to restructure integration services so that the education starts on day one and not at year four?

Mr. Mendicino: Thank you for the question, senator. I think you’ve touched on some very important issues there, both with regard to the work of reconciliation and how passing Bill C-8 into law can be a meaningful step toward achieving that with Indigenous peoples, but also where our immigration system fits into that work.

On a number of occasions you mentioned the word “integration,” which is indeed one of the core objectives that we try to accomplish in our work as we welcome newcomers from abroad.

I’m very proud of the work our government, public servants and partners in the settlement service ecosystem do — and that we get to do with you — in the work of integration. It’s something that we have been revered for by many other like-minded countries from around the world. Where I think we can restructure this particular part of our work is by both passing this bill into law — because, as we’ve discussed, a revised oath that speaks to Indigenous peoples will add to that educational component for our new Canadians — and equally through what we hope will be the very imminent updating of our citizenship guide so that it won’t be just a tool that you have to wait for until you take your oath. You’ll be able to use that guide broadly for those aspiring new Canadians who, as you say, will be able to access it on day one and learn more about the history of Canada, including Indigenous peoples.

Senator Omidvar: I’m hoping I’m hearing you say that, in fact, the history of Canada’s Indigenous people and our efforts in reconciliation will be embedded into language classes. That’s where many of immigrants go to learn English. From day one, we spend lots of money on doing this. I would urge you to aim for a triple bottom line as opposed to a double bottom line.