Canadians of Convenience or Canada is not a hotel

There are individuals that come to Canada just to obtain Canadian citizenship and all of its commensurate benefits, including a passport that can be used to travel visa free to over 150 countries. Some spend the requisite period of time in Canada and then leave (so called "Canadians of convenience" that refer to their sojourn in Canada, "immigration jail"), sometimes leaving family members here:

"The United Nations Global Commission on International Migration has caught the scope of this staggering shift. It details how the migration story today is generally not the traditional one of arrival, settlement and integration. Instead, migration, especially for the affluent, has turned into a globalized trend of unprecedented mobility, porous national borders, weak loyalties, opportunism and fragmented families."

Others commit residency fraud, exaggerating their time in Canada while living elsewhere. Justice Ann Mactavish recently found a family had committed residency fraud and awarded costs to the government over $63,000.00 (MCI v. Houchaine 2014 FC 342). At this time, over 10,000 individuals are being investigated for possible residency fraud.

Good. 

The solution? There are some individuals that will always seek to maximize their personal benefits. That's fine, but not when it comes at the cost of undermining the integrity of our country's immigration system. It's also not fair. The pie is only so big. There are only so many immigrants that we can accept per year. Every Canadian of Convenience means that an individual who would have been a Canadian in every sense of the word was displaced or delayed in his or her dream of coming to the greatest country in the world. Increasing the residency requirement and increasing enforcement is a good idea. At the same time, we should prioritize those applicants that have spent significant time here before becoming permanent residents (international students and temporary foreign workers) who have demonstrated their intent to reside and contribute to this country. 

Citizenship is a two way street, and Canada is not a hotel in which occupants can enjoy the benefits leaving their dirty linen for others to deal with.