Virtual citizenship ceremonies should end, says Conservative critic

By Canadian Press on December 3, 2025.

OTTAWA — Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel-Garner says it’s time for the federal government to end virtual citizenship ceremonies.

Rempel-Garner says the government should drop the virtual ceremonies because support for immigration is at “an all-time low” and taking the citizenship oath in person has a “unifying” effect.

The government introduced virtual citizenship ceremonies during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the practice continued afterward.

The immigration department says the option of virtual ceremonies helped improve citizenship application processing times.

In 2022, almost 358,000 people took the citizenship oath in either an in-person ceremony or a virtual event, up from about 250,000 in 2019 — the last year with no virtual ceremonies.

The current inventory of pending citizenship applications is just under 258,000 according to the immigration department.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2025.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press