Canada Moves to Strip Citizenship from Thousands Including Lebanese
Canada is investigating 6,500 people from more than 100 countries, including Lebanon for fraudulently attempting to gain citizenship or permanent residency, the immigration minister announced Friday.
"Canadian citizenship is not for sale," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in a statement. "Canadians are generous people, but have no tolerance or patience for people who don't play by the rules and who lie or cheat to become a Canadian citizen."
He said the government has moved to strip 2,100 people of their citizenship.
And nearly 4,400 with permanent residency "who are known to be implicated in residence fraud" have been flagged for additional scrutiny should they attempt to enter Canada or obtain citizenship.
Prior to this year, only 67 citizenships had been revoked since the enactment of the Citizenship Act in 1947.
Permanent residents must acquire three years of residence out of four years to apply for Canadian citizenship. To retain their status as permanent residents, they must be physically present in Canada for two years out of five.
Most of the cases are reportedly linked to three immigration consultants.
In March, authorities charged Halifax consultant Hassan Al-Awaid with fraudulently helping foreigners obtain permanent residency or citizenship. Some 1,100 applicants mostly from the Middle East and their dependents were implicated in the fraud, including 76 who obtained citizenship.
Another consultant, Nizar Zakka, was arrested in Montreal in 2009 for allegedly providing false evidence of Canadian residency for hundreds of Lebanese nationals, used to claim child care and tax credits.
The daily Ottawa Citizen, citing an unnamed government source, said a third consultant in Mississauga is now also under investigation for providing proof of residence in Canada for clients living abroad most, if not all, of the time.
10 December 2011, 12:24
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These lebanese crooks are not helping our reputation abroad. How embarrassing. Send them back to lebanon, where they belong.
10 December 2011, 15:13
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Good, they must stop cheating. For the record, the consultants that were caught are of Palestinian origin....
10 December 2011, 15:29
05
The culture of " 7arbou2 w shaater w 3afah dabbar 7alou " cannot help but cheat! jarrasouna....
10 December 2011, 15:36
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This is disgusting... and yes, these consultants are Palestinians and shame on the Lebanese for cheating... I am embarrassed.
10 December 2011, 15:45
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I am ashamed to call my self lebanese now in canada, we are known to be mafiosos, we are known for frauds, a lot of lebanese thought they could re-enter the canadian territory in 2006 when the canadians evacuated them, what our " Special and intelligent people " didnt know, is that all names were taken by the canadian authorities and of course they discovered not less than 3-4000 lebanese cheating and getting medicare, tax returns, child care without even living in Canada anymore. 2 years ago, we were on the first page of the Montreal Gazette newspapers, the title was : 13000 lebanese have been caught cheating the canadian state for diverse reasons. even when i went to the restaurant that night, many people were talking about it around us and i felt like an ant i couldnt even get mad because they wre right.Not to mention lebanese that bought cars in Canada and exported it and never paid for it. our people always wants the easy way, thats why we're still where we are in leb
10 December 2011, 16:13
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I myself am Lebanese who has receuroeived Canadian citizenship legally. Canadians are very generous indeed and are one of the most civilized countries in The world. I have been living in canada for the last 6 years, and have been treated with more respect then I was ever treated in Lebanon. Burns Canadians are honest people and they have zero tolerance for cheating. Now that we have a conservative government led by Harper, tough immigration laws will be implemented which will make it hard for cheating to occur.
10 December 2011, 17:04
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What does the nationality or origin of the consultants have anything to do with the story?!?
10 December 2011, 19:11
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Marc, no they were not and what record r u talking about? How come when a lebanese of foreign origin does something we r proud of, u dont rush to write their origin? Hypocrisy at its best. My father knows the family of one of those caught and they are full out lebanese. Besides, thousands of lebanese r jailed around the world for serious crimes so dont act as if we r saints. When a lebanese comits crimes in canada and the press brings up his lebanese origin, we call it racism, yet that is exactly what you are doing. Immature and uncivilized. Do you bring up the origin of samir kassir when there are articles about him here? No u dont, so what happened to the "record" in such a case? As i said, hypocrisy.
10 December 2011, 20:53
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Nizar Zakka is not Palestinian. He's Lebanese and his wife is Greek.
10 December 2011, 21:23
20
So what if they are Filastini? They were born and raised in Lebanon. Besides, as if Lebanese are perfect....we still have Nasrallah and all of March 8 and the stupid march 14 that think Lebanese are not Arabs although we speak Arabic......
10 December 2011, 23:45
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"Canadian citizenship is not for sale" lol
tell that to the people who immigration under the "investor program" when you pay $260000 in exchange for a permanent residency.
11 December 2011, 00:50
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Libnani,
So Australians, Americans, Canadians and many more speak English does that mean they are english? Same goes for Swiss and austrians speaking German. Lebanese speaking Arabic does not make you an Arab.
Squeal about it as much as u want until Lebanon change their name to the Arab republic of Lebanon we are not Arabs we are just their cousins. :p
11 December 2011, 02:46
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Libani of course we are not arabs.
we may be arab speaking but that does not makes us arabs.
the only arabs are those from the gulf ..the habitants of north africa are berbers, those of fertile crescsent are mediteraneans/levantines with phoenician origin.
to speak a language does not make youu the same people exmple irish & english, Mexican (aztec & maya ) & spanish, Senegalese (Africans) & french.
despite language diffrenecs Lebanon is 100 time closer to Greece, Turkey, Corsica, Sicily than Sudan or Somali or yemen who are also arabs
11 December 2011, 02:46
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Libani of course we are not arabs.
we may be arab speaking but that does not makes us arabs.
the only arabs are those from the gulf ..the habitants of north africa are berbers, those of fertile crescsent are mediteraneans/levantines with phoenician origin.
to speak a language does not make youu the same people exmple irish & english, Mexican (aztec & maya ) & spanish, Senegalese (Africans) & french.
despite language diffrenecs Lebanon is 100 time closer to Greece, Turkey, Corsica, Sicily than Sudan or Somali or yemen who are also arabs
11 December 2011, 04:23
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@lubnani, your roots is Palestinian and nothing wrong with that as long as your respect the place that you were born in and offered you a shelter to have a decent life whether you stayed in that country or immigrated again to a third country. Now when it comes to March 14 and M 8 disputes both of them are Lebanese in their roots so stay out of the internal Lebanese matters although we (March 14 and yourself) share the same views regarding global or regional conflict. If March 14 do not wish to be called Arabs or May 8 wish to be stuck with Iran then again this is an internal Lebanese issue and you'd focus your energy on solving your conflict with the Jewish state so that Palestine is liberated.
11 December 2011, 05:50
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The Lebanese are Infected with the corruption virus....
MrBrain
11 December 2011, 05:59
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Whether you are Lebanese or you are from any other nationality , you gotta respect the country that is giving you the right to get the citizenship. I am not surprised and I am aware of this , since I live in Montreal, and Nizar Zakka has been under investigation but still operating as if nothing happened. Shame on him, and shame on all Lebanese ,You gotta bend over and kiss Canadian Sole when you step here, giving you the citizenship, and not use it to go work in Dubai, and get social help from Canadian gov. We work hard here to pay taxes, and some lebanese are working elsewhere without reporting to the canadian gov, that they are not in Canada. If you don't want to live here and pay taxes, Simply don't apply to be a canadian citizen. Shame Shame and shame on you . wherever there's dirty illegal business, there are Lebanese involved in it.
11 December 2011, 13:27
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I am a Lebanese who became Canadian in 1992 after incessantly living and working there for more than 5 years. during this time, I have heard of thousands of friends of mine and others who obtained permanant residency visa, went to canada for a week and then left and never came back there to later become Canadian by hook or crook. What adds insult to injury is the fact that they were flaunting this infront of me to let me feel guilty and stupid to have played by the rules and never have cheated the canadian authorities. Canada is by the way a great country and one that offers fairness to those who play by the rules. I left Canada because I found an opportunity outside of Canada but my heart and soul remain dedicated to this great country where fairness prevail.
I am ashamed of those who obtained citizenship through false representations but also happy and rewarded for knowing that the authorities are now cracking on these crooked and revoking their illegally obtained citzenship.
