Tory motion to end birthright citizenship is 'just not workable,' says immigration lawyer

A Vancouver-based immigration lawyer says thefederal Conservative Party's recent resolutiontoeliminatebirthright citizenship for refugees and immigrants is not only contrary to Canadian values it would also be alogistical nightmare.

The resolutioncalls for the party to beginencouragingthe federal governmentto stop granting citizenship to anyone born on Canadian soil and instead to require at least one parent be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

"In Europe, who mommy is, who daddy is, sets your path in life. Not in Canada," said attorney Richard Kurland.

"You get a clean start. That's why we get citizenship by birth."

The motion waspresented to the Conservative Party last weekend at itsnationalconvention in Halifaxand wasnarrowly accepted ina vote Saturday.

Petition from Richmond, B.C.

PatrickHanlon, vice-president of the St. John's East electoral district association, was at the party convention andsaidthe resolution was based uponapetition presented to government byB.C. Conservative Richmond Centre MP Alice Wong in 2016.

That 2016 effort saw 8,886 Canadians sign an electronic petition urging the government to restrict automatic citizenship rights for babiesborn in Canada to foreigners.

Two years ago, Wong said she was prompted to launch the petition due toso-called "birth tourism," a practice in which pregnant non-Canadian women fly to Canada in order to give birth and secure citizenship for their babies.

She said the problem was rampant in her Richmond, B.C., riding, and "birthing homes" temporary dwellings for pregnant women from other countries were popping up all over the city.

However,Kurland said the City of Richmond could easily shut down birthing homes by revoking their licences a solution that is much simpler, he said.

"The idea of subjecting 37 million people to require sharing of your family's relationships in a federal government database is just not workable," he said.

'A few hundred babies?'

Kurland said such a database would not only infringe on personal privacy, it would require new, costly bureaucratic mechanisms to operate effectively such as a tribunal court with an appeal system and numerous employees to handle the paperwork.

"All to catch what? A few hundred babies?" he said, laughing.

Proponents of the motion have saidbirth tourism can be costly to taxpayers, due to the added cost of health care, education and other social services granted to citizens.Also, once someone born in Canada turns 18 years old, they cansponsor parents and other family members for citizenship.

However, Kurlandsays such practices aren't common.

He stressed the fundamentalsociological philosophy of Canada is to give people born in the country a "fresh start," regardless of who their parents are.

"In countries where they don't have citizenship by birth, you create generation after generation of stateless people. Who's going to pay for that?"

With files from On the Coast

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