Question Period Note: IN-PERSON AND VIDEO OATH CEREMONIES

Update on in-person and virtual citizenship ceremonies.

• IRCC is committed to providing meaningful, celebratory, and inclusive in-person and virtual citizenship ceremonies while offering clients choice.
• As standard practice, clients are invited to either an in-person or virtual oath ceremony and have the opportunity to request an alternative format from the one pre-selected in their invitation.
• The Government continues to enhance client service by streamlining processes, leveraging technology to meet client demand, and reducing the processing time for citizenship grant applications.
• IRCC recognizes the considerations raised during the public consultation for the self-administration of the oath of citizenship and continues to assess options for implementation.

IRCC resumed holding in-person ceremonies in July 2022, while maintaining virtual ceremonies, which were implemented as a means of adapting to the pandemic’s health and public safety measures. Local offices continue to adjust their ceremony schedules and formats based on operational needs.
The Department continues to work toward meeting service standards to process 80% of citizenship grant applications within 12 months. Applicants who submit their application for a grant of citizenship today can expect processing within the service standard.
The wait time from decision to ceremony is, on average, 1.4 months, well within the four-month service standard stipulated in the Service Fee Act (SFA).Clients are invited by the Department to either an in-person or a virtual ceremony, based on operational considerations. Clients may request a change of format through their ceremony invitation (e.g. from virtual ceremony to in-person ceremony and vice-versa) and the Department makes best efforts to accommodate client preference.
On July 19, 2024, IRCC held the largest Canadian citizenship ceremony in 20 years. Canada welcomed nearly 400 new Canadians from 60 countries who took part in the Oath of Citizenship and received their Canadian Citizenship Certificate in a truly unique setting - under Cirque du Soleil's iconic big bop in Toronto.

The Department is continuing its efforts to increase the number of in-person ceremonies where operationally feasible, improve communication with clients, make procedural and administrative enhancements to ceremonies, and ensure citizenship ceremonies remain meaningful, inclusive and client-centered.
Self-Administration of the Oath of Citizenship
On February 25, 2023, IRCC pre-published proposed amendments to the Citizenship Regulations that would allow for the self-administration of the oath in the Canada Gazette for a 30 day public consultation period.

The Department received 440 submissions of written feedback during the consultation period. Approximately 61% (268) of the comments received were not supportive, 36% (159) were supportive and 3% (13) were neutral.

On July 12, 2023, MP Tom Kmiec endorsed an e-petition calling for the Minister of IRCC to abandon plans to permit self-administration of the oath, and revert to in-person ceremonies as the default. The e-petition closed on October 10, 2023 with 1,549 signatures. The Government tabled its response on December 4, 2023, emphasizing that the Department would continue to explore options that will modernize the Citizenship Program while recognizing the value of in-person citizenship ceremonies.

Analysis is underway to assess options with respect to the self-administration of the oath, particularly surrounding the client experience journey, measures related to the integrity of the process and an ongoing commitment that citizenship ceremonies remain an important part of Canadian tradition. Additionally, the Department continues to reflect on the feedback received from members of the public, which will be taken into consideration in the assessment of options and decisions on a way forward.

 
Table 1. Number of ceremonies by format (in-person and virtual)

Month 2023 2024
In-person Virtual In-person Virtual
January 47 208 72 231
February 41 213 96 218
March 44 220 87 210
April 27 121 122 177
May 63 291 154 205
June 50 246 123 180
July 67 227 167 171
August 52 249 N/A N/A
September 59 241 N/A N/A
October 49 241 N/A N/A
November 38 256 N/A N/A
December 45 178 N/A N/A
Average per month 48 224 *117 *199
Notes:
• Source: IRCC CPPB, Manually Tracked data as of August 19, 2024.
• *Calculation is based on average per month till July(last complete month) = # of ceremonies / 7 months
• Status of ceremonies equals "Completed, Scheduled, In-Progress, Not started, Blank".
• Increases in citizenship ceremonies for month of May and July is result of Citizenship Week (May) and Canada Day ceremonies (July).
• Each week, data is compiled and is manually validated by each office.
• Data are preliminary, subject to change, and may not match official IRCC reporting.

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