OTTAWA -- Critics of Maryam Monsef, the Afghan-Canadian MP who found out through a journalist that she was actually born in Iran, are torquing up the situation for political reasons, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference nearly a year to the day after he and his cabinet were sworn in, Trudeau defended Monsef, the minister for democratic institutions, and said it's common for people from conflict zones to be unclear about where, precisely, they were born.
"This is a situation in which people are conflating for political reasons the very real situation that so many refugees face - of fleeing from conflict situations where there is not always perfect clarity on which side of a border one is born on or the conditions in which one is raised," Trudeau said.
Those critics are conflating a standard refugee story with deliberate acts of omission used to gain citizenship through fraudulent declarations, he added.
"It's disappointing to see people spreading misinformation and trying to torque up an issue that simply isn't important," Trudeau said.
Monsef grew up in Peterborough, Ont. after fleeing Afghanistan with her mother and sisters, and was elected just over a year ago. In September, the Globe and Mail revealed she was actually born in Mashhad, Iran, just across the border from Herat, where she thought she was born. Monsef knew she had spent part of her childhood in Iran, but has always said she was Afghan-born. Monsef said she was upset with her mother for not telling her sooner, but that Iran didn't consider her to be a citizen since her parents were Afghan.
Monsef had listed Herat as her birthplace on her passport application, an error her office said she would correct.
The case raised questions about how Canada deals with refugees who lie on their applications. Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman said Monsef's citizenship could be revoked and she could be deported if her mother misrepresented her birthplace. The Canadian Press reported the government has set targets to strip the citizenship of 40 to 60 immigrants a month under the same law that would apply to Monsef.
