In 2014, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper passed Bill C-24, which allowed the government to revoke the citizenship of naturalized Canadians convicted of treason, terrorism charges or espionage, and who also received prison sentences of certain lengths for those offences after they became citizens.
Mark Kersten, an expert in human rights and international law at the University of the Fraser Valley, said revoking citizenship from Canadians who engage in the activities listed in CIJA’s filing after they are naturalized would be “hugely problematic,” especially if those individuals were deported from Canada before being criminally prosecuted in a Canadian court.