Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says Ottawa will attempt to revoke the citizenship of 1,800 people who are suspected of obtaining their status through fraudulent means.
Ottawa alleges that many of these individuals were aided by "crooked citizenship consultants who created fake proof of their residency in Canada," Kenney told reporters in Toronto on Wednesday morning.
The letters were sent out after a lengthy investigation by police and Citizenship and Immigration Canada and it is believed that most of the targeted individuals live outside of Canada.
"Most of the people we believe have never really lived in Canada and are still overseas," Kenney said.
"We are sending them or have sent them letters expressing our intention to revoke their citizenship."
Kenney said a disproportionate number of the cases come from "tax haven" countries.
"What they did was hire crooked citizenship consultants to create fake proof of residency in Canada so that they can get citizenship and access to our health care and subsidized tuition rates . . . but at the same time, stayed overseas without contributing to the Canadian tax base," he told CTV News Channel.
"By launching this enforcement action, we are sending the message that Canadian citizenship is not for sale."
Kenney said that the individuals will have an opportunity to raise an objection to the revocations in the Federal Court.
"There's a very, very fair and frankly exhaustive legal process," said Kenney.
Since 1867, Canada has only revoked the citizenship status of 66 people.
The immigration minister predicts that few individuals will fight the process given "the strong, convincing evidence" the government holds of the fraud involved.
Joshua Sohn, vice-chair of the Canadian Bar Association's immigration section, applauded the operation but suggested the size of the crackdown might put too much strain on the legal system.
"I think it's a good thing that the government is signalling that it's going to take this seriously," Sohn told The Canadian Press.
"It's a question of balancing that with some pragmatism as well."
Sohn said even the simplest citizenship application takes about a year to process.
"The 1,800 at once ... I do think that just raises pragmatic issues and whether resources are going to be tied up in that that are going to further delay citizenship processing," he said.
Also Wednesday, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced the introduction of a new 10-year multi-entry visa that the department says will make it easier for individuals to visit Canada.
"The ten-year visa will be an option to more low-risk travellers who are citizens of visa-required countries," the department said in a release issued Wednesday.
Kenney says the government plans to bring forward legislation in the next Parliament to force citizenship consultants to be part of a regulatory body.
