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rfmcdonaldRemember how I asked last night what Conrad Black's fate would be, bereft of Canadian citizenship but wanting entry?
Right.
It was never that up in the air, and to be sure there is a valid humanitarian case to be made for allowing his entry. I just find it more than a bit ironic that he wants to be Canadian again after condemning Canadian citizenship as a prize that might be attractive to desperate Haitians and Romanians but was otherwise lacking.
Right.
It was never that up in the air, and to be sure there is a valid humanitarian case to be made for allowing his entry. I just find it more than a bit ironic that he wants to be Canadian again after condemning Canadian citizenship as a prize that might be attractive to desperate Haitians and Romanians but was otherwise lacking.
Former media mogul Conrad Black has been given permission to return to Canada after his release from a Florida jail, which could happen as early as Friday.
The federal government has cleared the way for Black's return by granting him a one-year temporary resident permit which is valid from May 2012 to May 2013, according to a source.
[. . .]
The authorization of a temporary permit is the first step in Black's quest to return to Canada long-term — but he will have to pass through a series of immigration hurdles to become a Canadian citizen again.
In 2001, the Montreal-born Black gave up his Canadian citizenship to accept a peerage in Britain's House of Lords. He did this because then-prime minister Jean Chretien would not allow him to accept the title as a Canadian citizen.
[. . .]
Black has made it clear he wants to return to Canada, but his criminal conviction and lack of Canadian citizenship pose problems.
Black's ultimate goal is to once again become a citizen. But he can only be considered for citizenship after he has successfully attained permanent residency status and has lived in the country for at least one year. Experts have questioned how easy it will be for Black to get permanent residency status, given his criminal conviction.
[. . .]
On Parliament Hill Tuesday, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney would not say whether Black had been granted the permit. But he did answer questions about the case in general.
He said that foreign nationals are eligible to apply for temporary resident permits to come to Canada. He said he couldn't comment on Black's case in the absence of Black's explicit permission without violating the Citizenship Act.
"It's the only legal answer I can give," Kenney told reporters. "If anyone of you can obtain a waiver from the privacy act from Mr. Black, we'd be happy to release all the details of any application, how it was considered and according to what criteria."
[. . .]
Every year, officials from the Citizenship and Immigration department approve more than 10,000 temporary resident permits for foreign nationals, he said, and "a very large number" of those permits help to overcome inadmissibility for foreign nationals with criminal records if federal officials determine it's a non-violent offence, the individual poses a low risk to reoffend and does not pose a risk to Canadian society.
Federal officials also will consider such other criteria as whether the person has long-standing ties to the country, family connections, and humanitarian and compassionate considerations, Kenney added.
