WUNRN
Canada
- Polygamy an Issue for Immigration Officials
|
By Brian Lilley, Parliamentary Bureau |
|||
|
|
|||
|
OTTAWA — The Conservative government is quietly reminding embassy and consular staff around the world that Canada doesn't accept immigrants who plan to practise polygamy here. The reminder comes after documents obtained through access to information and supplied to QMI Agency showed that bureaucrats in outposts such as Saudi Arabia and Morocco have been forced to deal with the issue of polygamy as they assess immigration and temporary visitor applications. “The status of being a polygamist is not grounds in and of itself to deny entry to an applicant seeking to come to Canada on a temporary basis,” reads a draft document developed by the national headquarters for Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The document makes clear though that the practice of polygamy can't be allowed in Canada. “If the applicant has practised in polygamous marriages or conjugal relationships in the past while in Canada, or states or gives cause for an immigration officer to believe that they will practise in polygamous marriages or conjugal relationships once in Canada, then the applicant is inadmissible,” the document states. The document goes on to describe various scenarios that immigration officers may face and what should be done. In one example, a second or third wife of a person in Canada attempts to enter the country as a student. That person would likely be deemed inadmissible, “based on the reasonable expectation that her polygamous relationship would be practised in Canada.” An official with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s office told QMI that the department is doing its best to keep polygamy out of Canada. “What the released e-mail shows is that our officials are vigilant,” said spokesman Alykhan Velshi. “The minister has asked the department to look into this to see if there are any loopholes, and if there are, to close them." The issue of polygamy is currently before the courts in Canada as well. The Government of British Columbia has asked the courts to rule on the constitutionality of laws banning polygamy in Canada. In addition to the fundamentalist Mormon sect that practises polygamy in Bountiful, BC., there have been several media reports over the past few years about polygamy cropping up in Canada’s immigrant Muslim communities. |
