Tuesday, March 16, 2010, extra.ca

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney dodged more questions today about the removal of gay rights from the new Canadian citizenship guide. At today’s Commons immigration committee meeting, NDP MP Olivia Chow asked Kenney if gay rights would be added to the next printing. Kenney wouldn’t say yes or no, and instead he turned to his bogus talking points: that there was “zero content” in the previous guide (written in 1995) on gay rights or same-sex marriage, that the new guide includes a reference to gay athlete Mark Tewksbury, and hey, the guide can’t be “a thousand pages.” (read more about today’s meeting in Xtra’s federal politics blog)

How could the 1995 guide have referenced gay marriage, which was legalized in 2005? Argh!

Kenney has refused to publicly commit to adding gay rights to the guide in the next printing. His office won’t return Xtra’s calls.

A March 2 Canadian Press report revealed that Kenney’s office deliberately removed gay rights references from an early draft of the guide in the summer of 2009.

More than 8,000 people have joined a Facebook group, Canadians Calling for the Resignation of Jason Kenney.