Speaking of broken immigration systems...

Americans who are dismayed at President Obarmy's imperial order (see previous post) to suspend enforcement of the USA's immigration laws might pause to give thanks that, broken as it is, their immigration "system" is not as bad as that of Canada.

From north of the world's longest quasi-undefended border comes word that a Canuck wannabe who received a grade of zero (0!) out of six on her citizenship language test and four (4!) out of 20 on the test’s knowledge component was nonetheless granted a Canadian citizenship certificate!

It wasn't political correctness or a desire to make nice with the Muslims that put Haheen Afzal — despite her abysmal results on the tests — before a citizenship judge in Hamilton ON to swear an oath to Her Britannic Majesty and receive a handsome certificate, suitable for framing. No, it was "a series of administrative errors".

"Comedy of errors" might be a better term. Except that Ms Afzal didn't find it so funny when the government discovered its, errr, mistake and tried to revoke her citizenship. Indeed, she fought to keep the precious parchment, all the way to the Federal Court of Canada, which resolved the dispute more than a year after the ceremony.

The facts of the case, as reviewed by Mr. Justice Donald Rennie, were that Ms Afzal failed the citizenship test not once but twice! The first time she scored 2/6 on language and 8/20 on knowledge. When she appeared before a citizenship judge and tried again, she scored even worse.

But the citizenship judge wasn't too good at the paperwork either. He noted in writing that Ms Afzal failed the tests and did not qualify but mistakenly checked the "Granted" box on the decision form. The next day, an official at the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office acknowledged that the judge’s decision had been "seen" and checked "Citizenship Granted" before sending the form along for processing.

A few days later, on 26 September 2013, Ms Afzal was asked to appear for a citizenship ceremony, and duly took the Oath of Citizenship. It was only after the ceremony that a citizenship clerk finally noticed the mistake. He twice phoned Ms. Afzal and left messages. Surprisingly, his calls were not returned.

Two months later, CIC cancelled the certificate. Arguing in the Federal Court, her (taxpayer-funded?) lawyer argued that CIC bureaucrats did not have authority to do that. Only the Governor-in-Council, which acts on behalf of the Crown, has such power, he said. But Mr. Justice Rennie disagreed, ruling that to accept that argument would be absurd.

Before someone can become a Canadian citizen, they are required to demonstrate linguistic competence in either of Canada’s official languages and show an adequate knowledge of Canada’s social, civic and political norms. Not too much to ask of a Muslim lady from the Middle East, surely? The judge said, "These competencies must be established before citizenship can be granted."

So, he ruled, even though a citizenship certificate was issued, the preconditions to citizenship had never been met. Therefore, citizenship was not so much being revoked as a certificate that had not been legally issued was being cancelled. And that was within the power of CIC bureaucrats.

"This interpretation also ensures that the privilege of Canadian citizenship is granted only as intended by Parliament," he said. That's good legal reasoning, judge! Nice save!