National Women's Month Celebration for PENRO Quezon
Barriers to citizenship (Group presentation)
1. Alina Kuiovda Antonieta De Leon Atiqa Majid
Fared Dawod Olga Mykulanynets Cherry Trung
Juliet Watson
3. PROFESSOR ATUNIVERSITY OFTORONTO
44 YEARS OLD
PERMANENT RESIDENT
STUDIED IN CANADA
EMPLOYED BY THE UNIVERSITY
OF TORONTO
APPLIED FOR CANADIAN
CITIZENSHIP IN 2012
COMPLETED CITIZENSHIP TEST
IN 2014
4. Hope of a new
life in Canada
Employer
Exploitation
Working-
poor or
living below
poverty line
Mental Health
Challenges
/Family
Support
Breakdown
Move Out of
Canada/Rema
in in Poverty
5. Special Test from Authorized testing
Centers is required ($200.00)
Language test requirement supports people
with higher education
Language testing centers are not easily accessible
throughout Canada
7. Two Key components to Citizenship (Legal and
Symbolic)
Legal Citizenship provides rights for voting
Symbolic Citizenship provides feelings of inclusion and
integration into Canadian Society and Culture
Residents feel disillusioned and unwelcomed in Canada
when they are at the last stage of the citizenship
process and their applications are placed under review
Residents feel confusion and emotional stress when
dealing with Citizenship and Immigration Canada over
the status of their application
Language
Barriers
Canadian
Experience
Application Fees
10. Resident applications get triggered and flagged in the
system
Applicants are placed back to square one having to prove
residency or complete residency questionnaire
System backlog creates additional hardship for applicants
and families trying to settle into Canadian life and culture
System perpetuates a cyclical negative impact of emotional
stress by placing applicants in a precarious situation where
they live in fear of application denial and/or deportation.
12. :LIZAFORMAN
•44 YEARS OLD
•PERMANENT RESIDENT
•LIVED IN CANADA FOR 12 YEARS
•CAN SPEAK AND WRITE ENGLISH
•NO CONVICTIONS
•UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
PROFESSOR
CIC ELIGIBILITY
REQUIREMENTS
•18 YEARS OF AGE
•PERMANENT RESIDENCY STATUS
•RESIDED IN CANADA 3 YEARS OR
1095 DAYS
•MUST HAVE ADEQUATE
KNOWLEDGE OF EITHER FRENCH OR
ENGLISH
•MUST NOT BE CONVICTED OF AN
INDICTABLE OFFENCE OR IN PRISON
•UNDERSTAND CANADIAN HISTORY,
VALUES, INSTITUTIONS AND
SYMBOLES
CITIZENSHIP
13. Create a department that regulates
triggered applications at the end of the
process and the backlog
Create a pre-eligibility department that
provides services that assist applicants
Call center that provides information on
the progress or status of citizenship
applications