While other countries have moved to revoke the citizenship of terrorists who have left their countries, Canada has moved to protect the citizenship of dual-citizen terrorists.
This month the British government has moved to revoke the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a London teenager who joined ISIS in 2015.
British law allows the government to revoke citizenship of those who act “in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK.”
British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has taken a strong stance against allowing terrorists like Begum to enjoy the benefits of British citizenship and has asked the government to close loopholes which may allow other terrorists to return to the UK.
While the British are working to keep terrorists out of their country, Canada has done the opposite.
In 2016 the Trudeau government passed Bill C-6, a bill which protects dual-citizen terrorists from having their citizenship revoked.
Not only did bill C-6 help people like Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a convicted terrorist who helped plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks which left 166 people dead — it also reinstated the citizenship of those that were revoked under the Harper government.
This includes Zakaria Amara, the Toronto 18 mastermind who was convicted of plotting terrorist attacks against Canadians.
Meanwhile, on Monday United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected a lawsuit from a former US resident who joined ISIS and wants to be allowed to return.
“She’s a non-citizen terrorist; she has no legal basis for a claim of U.S. citizenship,” he said.
“She’s not coming back to the United States to create the risk that someday she’d return to the battlefield and continue to put at risk American people, American kids, American boys and girls that were sent to help defeat ISIS — she put them at risk, she’s not a U.S. citizen, she’s not coming back.”
As more ISIS fighters try to return home, Canada has made it clear that its door will still be open.
