Canadian Press: Government Project and Citizenship Guide

canadian press: The opposition Conservatives included the reference in their version of the guide while they were in power, and criticized the government for initially cutting it out, according to National Observer. The Liberals have since said the reference would be restored. International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau is to make the announcement of the four-year initiative on Tuesday, making it the first government project to target the controversial practice. ; The issue sparked domestic political discord in Canada after The Canadian Press revealed last year that references condemning the practice had been cut from a draft of the Immigration Department's new citizenship guide for new arrivals. Bibeau tells The Canadian Press that the reference belongs in Canada's new citizenship guide so that newcomers realize the practice is illegal in Canada. Bibeau has spearheaded the creation of a new feminist development policy, and she has been seized with trying to find a project worth funding. FGM is considered as gender-based violence and a criminal act in Canada and I think it's important to inform the new citizens that this cultural practice is absolutely not acceptable in Canada, she said in a telephone interview Monday from Cotonou, Benin. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.