Article content

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals are getting started on repealing some of the previous government’s sweeping — and controversial — changes to how people get or lose Canadian citizenship.

But the Liberal plan promises to be controversial in its own right, since it would, if passed, restore the Canadian citizenship of Zakaria Amara — sentenced in 2010 for his role as a member of the so-called Toronto 18.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Liberals to pull back Tory citizenship rules — terrorism to no longer be grounds for revoking citizenship Back to video

Immigration Minister John McCallum introduced a new bill Thursday that, if passed, would remove terrorism or other crimes against the national interest as grounds for revoking citizenship from dual nationals.

The legislation would also restore citizenship to anyone who has been affected by those provisions; Amara is the only person in Canada to have had his Canadian citizenship revoked under the Conservative law.

Amara, believed to be the ringleader of the group, was sentenced in 2010 to life in prison with no chance of parole until 2016 after admitting he was involved in the plot to attack targets in Toronto.