Federal Minister Says Canada Needs to Get Tough on Immigrants Who Want Citizenship

Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says immigrants who can’t speak English or French well enough should be denied citizenship.

Kenney told an immigration conference in Calgary that more efforts need to be made to integrate individuals coming to Canada. He said newcomers should be required to have a working knowledge of either official language.

Kenney said rules are already in place and free language training is made available to new immigrants so there is no excuse.

He also said he wants to find ways of recognizing an immigrant’s credentials.

He gave as an example the case of a Syrian obstetrician who has delivered “hundreds of babies,” but who has been working as a chambermaid for the last five years.