e-4758 (Citizenship and immigration)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• The current process for evaluating immigration and citizenship applications unfairly places the burden on those facing political persecution to prove that foreign laws they're accused of violating aren't crimes in Canada, and this places undue stress to those who have suffered under autocratic regimes;
• We propose an official list that automatically disqualifies political laws as valid reasons for denying refuge, humanitarian or other visas, or Canadian citizenship;
• Autocratic regimes craft laws, for the purpose of political persecution, that look just to those unfamiliar with their political context, for example, in the Russian Federation, Articles 207.3, 280.3, and 284.2 were added to the Criminal Code after the Ukraine invasion to suppress truth about the war and persecute dissenters;
• Implementing this list would streamline Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reviews, expediting applications for those persecuted under these laws, and preventing delays for those wrongly perceived as criminals; and
• Political context for understanding these laws as political prosecution, not crimes, can be provided by the Canadian Ministry of Global Affairs, they already use this information to sanction regimes for human rights violations.