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This article was published 17/01/2018 (2288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Scores of Manitobans have lost their Canadian citizenship, putting the federal Liberals under pressure to close an arcane loophole from a Harper-era law that largely affects Mennonites.

Advocates claim they’ve been promised imminent legislation, but Ottawa is evasive, and won’t explain why it didn’t fix it earlier.

“These letters keep coming out, yet the government doesn’t want to change anything,” said Susie Kehler, who was born in Mexico, but has lived in Canada since she was five months old.

Kehler lives in the village of Rosewood, five kilometres from the United States border.

As a child, the government issued her a citizenship card. But in 2013, the immigration department sent her a letter saying the card was no longer valid because she hadn’t validated her citizenship before the age of 28. (Canadian law used to require children born abroad, whose parents were or became citizens, to “reaffirm” their citizenship with a simple form by that age.)

Kehler had heard of other Mennonites losing their citizenship, and once asked nearby border agents about the law. She said they told her the citizenship card had no expiry date.

A 2009 law was supposed to solve the issue, but left a loophole for those born between Feb. 15, 1977, and April 16, 1981. That left Kehler struggling to find the proper form to have her citizenship restored.

In 2015, she asked her local MP, Candice Bergen, for help. Kehler said a constituency staffer arranged a phone call with an immigration department official, who simply suggested she fill out the forms and not tell the media or family about her situation.

The application requires proving a “substantial connection with Canada,” meaning birth or marriage certificates, school records, employment or doctor letters, and affidavits from family members. Applicants have to provide enough documentation to show they consistently lived in Canada.

After filing out the forms, Kehler said she struggled to learn which office handles these applications, and to find their postal address. She said neither the immigration department hotline, nor Bergen’s staff, helped answer her questions.

“A lot of her constituents could fall under this, and why isn’t she making this one of her priorities? It just seems very wrong,” Kehler said.

In a statement, Bergen wrote she wants the Liberals to provide “the necessary assistance” to those applying, and be “compassionate when dealing with these unique cases.”

“I empathize with the very real frustrations and challenges individuals face, and take issues affecting my constituents very seriously. I remain committed to helping my constituents affected by existing citizenship legislation.”

Kehler ultimately submitted her application last November — more than a year after she filled out the forms. The process involves paying $530 online with a credit card, before separately mailing the personal documents, including the original citizenship card.

“I kind of feel like it’s just a big money grab,” said Kehler, adding most people who know how to navigate the rules charge a service fee. Her husband and children worry she might get deported.

“For me, it’s been more of an annoyance than anything else,” she said.

Bill Janzen, former Ottawa head for the Mennonite Central Committee, said he’s helped with almost 200 similar cases. He believes around 600 have been processed, based on conversations with other advocates.

Janzen said bureaucrats require a trove of documentation to prove stripping citizenship would cause “special and unusual hardship” — which is their legal threshold for restore citizenship. He said getting those records can be tricky for Mennonites educated in small, community-run schools.

He said he knows of dozens who don’t intend to ever leave Canada, and can’t be bothered with the paperwork and $530 fee. “There are people out there who will try to get by under the wire,” he said.

Janzen believes there are less than 500 people of Mennonite origin affected by this issue in Canada, and perhaps a hundred living in Latin America, though he says there could be as many as 2,000.

Provencher MP Ted Falk, whose riding also includes Mennonite communities, said he has had 15 to 20 constituents come forward with the issue since he was elected in 2013. He strongly advises people not leave Canada until they have rectified their status, and said his staff are “very willing” to help those in the riding whose citizenship expires.

“My understanding is that the government is willing to deal with these issues on a case-by-case basis. And my understanding, and my experience so far, is that the government has responded with compassion.”

Don Chapman was stripped of his citizenship at the age of six, and has been advocating for those who lost citizenship for decades. His advocacy led the former Harper government to pass Bill C-37 in 2009.

While some have feared deportation, Janzen said he’s not aware of any cases.

But Chapman warned people who have travelled abroad or needed to respond to family members in medical crisis overseas have found themselves locked out of Canada.

Both met with various MPs when the Liberals tabled their immigration reform Bill C-6, and were dismayed that the wide-ranging bill left out a simple change on an issue that has come up in numerous media reports.

Chapman has also discussed the issue in meetings with senior staff for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, Hussen’s predecessor, and even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Chapman claims Hussen’s staff recently told him a bill would be coming this or last month to rectify the situation.

Hussen’s spokesman wouldn’t confirm whether it had promised legislation.

“Our government knows the value of Canadian citizenship and is committed to ensuring fairness and integrity in the citizenship program,” wrote Hursh Jaswal, who lauded Bill C-6, which has left advocates fuming.

Ottawa is “looking at making further changes to citizenship laws. We cannot speculate as to the timing or content of future legislation,” wrote Jaswal.

Last May, Janzen wrote to Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, suggesting he simply delete the sentence-long clause of the Citizenship Act that is causing the problem to persist. He noted conflicting and misleading information from immigration officials.

“I certainly did not expect that this would go on this long,” he said. “It would have saved an enormous amount of work on the part of government officials.”

The pressure on Ottawa is set to mount. The office of Tory immigration critic Michelle Rempel said she would be tabling a motion at the House immigration committee, calling for hearings on the issue.

Chapman says the issue just one component of Canada’s patchwork of “arbitrary” citizenship laws, which have stripped citizenship from children, war brides and even an orphan in Syria whose legal guardian is a Canadian. Some laws discriminate based on the gender of a parent, or whether they were married.

“Canada is a country that has turned against its own people. We’ve been living a lie,” said Chapman, saying the media attention on the age 28 rule ignores hundreds of other “lost Canadians.”

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca