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According to the emails, released under access to information laws, Sun Media wanted to hold a short ceremony that involved just the citizenship oath and a maximum of 10 people in its small studio as part of Citizenship Week last October.

Government officials cautioned such events were only conducted in exceptional circumstances as citizenship ceremonies are very “special” for those involved and should take place in the company of friends and family.

Officials suggested the broadcaster attend one of 13 already scheduled off-site ceremonies but the network rejected the idea.

“Let’s do it. We can fake the oath,” said a Sun staffer whose name was blacked out.

Bureaucrats instead pitched a reaffirmation ceremony, but had trouble tracking down new immigrants to take part as many indicated they couldn’t take time off work.

In the end, six federal bureaucrats were asked by the department to stand in “so that we’d have the right numbers,” according to one email.

Footage from the event, however, shows the broadcaster ended up passing off the reaffirmation as a true citizenship ceremony.

“What the minister should have done is tell any news outlet that wants to fake a story to go jump in a fake lake,” NDP immigration critic Don Davies retorted following Kenney’s response in a reference to the controversial, $57,000 fake lake prop purchased for the G8 Summit in Muskoka in 2010.

“Instead they played along, once again putting Conservative photo ops ahead of getting things done for Canadians,” the Opposition MP said.