Ottawa’s proposed citizenship reform will punish good immigrants by putting more hurdles for them to become full-fledged members of society, many newcomers say.

They say restricting citizenship won’t strengthen the value of Canadian citizenship — an argument Immigration Minister Chris Alexander made Thursday — but discourage newcomers from full civic participation. Some even wonder if Canada is still a welcoming country to immigrants.

“The Canadian government is sending a mixed message to newcomers. On one hand, they are saying, ‘We welcome you and we want you,’ ” said Anil Paul, 35, an IT security consultant from India.

“But their policies are contradictory. They are hypocritical.”

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Paul, who came to Canada in 2004 under the skilled-workers program but only applied for citizenship in 2012, said there are already “rigorous” checks and balances in the system to weed out ineligible applicants by demanding proof of one’s physical presence such as tax records, lease agreements and bank transactions.

“This is an overkill. The government is doing more checks, and there is no balance,” said Paul, who has missed out on many job opportunities that require Canadian citizenship.

“If this is about clearing the backlog, they should put in extra resources and not further restrict the process.”

Ariana Adibrad, who heads a Toronto immigrant self-advocacy group for citizenship, said the proposed changes are disappointing because they further punish immigrants who are eager to become good citizens and fully participate in the democracy Canada offers.

“There are always some bad people out there. We recognize that they should be punished. But the majority of immigrants are good, hard-working people,” said Adibrad, who came here with her family from Iran in 2008 and only obtained her citizenship last year.

“When you are not a citizen, you can’t fully engage and invest in your new life because you don’t have the same sense of stability.”

Manya Koopal, who came here with her husband and two children from Pakistan in 2006, agreed.

“We understand and appreciate that Canadian citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” said Koopal, who applied for citizenship in 2011 and is still waiting.

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“How can you belong when you can’t establish your roots here and your hard work is not paying off, and you are constantly threatened that you will have your citizenship revoked and can be thrown out at any moment?”

Adibrad’s mother, Nastaran, just passed her citizenship exam two weeks ago. She said she felt Canada simply wants immigrants to remain permanent residents without the benefits and rights of full citizens.

“Immigrants have become the black sheep,” said the Toronto psychotherapist. “We are presumed guilty of fraud and everything unless we can prove that we are not.”