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The citizenship judge noted in writing that Ms. Afzal failed the tests and did not qualify but mistakenly checked the “Granted” box on the decision form, court heard.

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The next day, an official at the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) office acknowledged that the judge’s decision had been “seen” and checked “Citizenship Granted” before sending the form along for processing.

A few days later, Ms. Afzal was asked to appear for a citizenship ceremony and she took the Oath of Citizenship.

After the ceremony a citizenship clerk finally noticed the mistake. He twice phoned Ms. Afzal and left messages.

The calls were not returned.

Two months later, CIC cancelled the certificate.

In court, her lawyer argued CIC bureaucrats did not have authority to cancel citizenship, only the Governor-in-Council, which acts on behalf of the Crown, has such power.

‘It is unclear how often these mistakes happen. This situation merits a thorough investigation’

To accept that, Federal Court Justice Donald Rennie said in his ruling, would rise to the level of “absurdity.”

Before someone can become a Canadian citizen, they are required to demonstrate linguistic competence in either of Canada’s official languages and show an adequate knowledge of Canada’s social, civic and political norms.

“These competencies must be established before citizenship can be granted,” Judge Rennie ruled.

Based on those criteria, even though a citizenship certificate was issued, the pre-conditions to citizenship had never been met, he said. Therefore, citizenship was not so much being revoked as a certificate that had not been legally issued was being cancelled. And that was within the power of CIC bureaucrats.