Russian antiwar activist will get Canadian citizenship after all: minister

Canada’s immigration minister says a Russian antiwar activist will be able to get Canadian citizenship after all despite a conviction in Russia that got her pulled from a previous ceremony.

Maria Kartasheva, who has lived in Ottawa since 2019, has been convicted under a Russian law passed shortly after the invasion of Ukraine which bars “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

Her convictions stem from two blog entries from March 2022, when she posted photos and wrote in Russian expressing horror at the Bucha massacre.

Under Canadian immigration rules, if an applicant is charged with a crime in another country that could be indictable under Canada’s Criminal Code, their application can be revoked or refused. 

According to a December letter from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the crime she committed in Russia “would equate to false information under subsection 372(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada.”

That interpretation got her pulled from a citizenship ceremony in May. It was also criticized by a Canadian lawyer and professor.

On Tuesday afternoon, Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller said in a social media post Kartasheva “will not face deportation and has been invited to become a Canadian citizen.”

“Canada’s citizenship eligibility rules are designed to catch criminals, not to suppress or punish legitimate political dissent,” wrote a post from his account on X.

It’s not clear when she will be able to get her citizenship.

More to come.