Canadian visa holders to be issued with new citizenship guide

November 12 2009 by Liam Clifford

New citizenship scheme to be introduced in Canada.

Some 250,000 people who move to Canada each year and become Canadian citizens are to be issued with a new citizenship guide, according to an announcement by the Canadian immigration department.

The guides will be issued from this week and will have a greater focus on the country’s military history. According to Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney, it will be different from the previous guide, which portrayed Canada mainly as a peacekeeping country.

Touching upon Canada’s involvement in the First World War, the guide will inform newcomers about Quebec’s separatist movement.

Entitled ‘Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship’, the document was put together by a team of experts. The team included historian Jack Granatstein, Canadian governor general Adrienne Clarkson and retired general John de Chastelain.

The news comes amid some changes in the immigration ministry, including the reduction of the number of refugee visa slots. However, Kenney has also announced that the Canadian visa quota will remain the same next year, meaning that as many as 265,000 people will move to Canada and the same number of permanent residency visas will be issued in 2010.

Earlier this week, it was reported that a new educational guide, which will help teachers in Australia to teach children about citizenship and immigration, has been released down under.

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