A Russian dissident's fraught path to Canadian citizenship

When Maria Kartasheva appeared at a Canadian citizenship ceremony last June, she thought she would cut her permanent residency card and take an oath. Instead, officials blocked her from running, saying her criminal charges in Russia for criticizing the war in Ukraine could disqualify her from citizenship.

On Tuesday afternoon, she finally took her oath in a virtual ceremony from her home in Ottawa and became a Canadian citizen. But the moment came after what she described as a nerve-wracking seven-month saga involving a frenzied effort to gain public support for her cause. If she had been sent back to Russia, as Canada was considering, she would face an eight-year prison sentence.

“I put all my hopes on Canada only to be betrayed,” said Ms. Kartasheva, 30. “And who would care about me? I was very afraid that no one would want to support me.”

Ms. Kartasheva was arrested in absentia last spring and convicted by a Moscow judge in November for anti-war comments she posted on social media while living in Canada.

Permanent residents with a criminal history in other countries may lose their immigration status in Canada if an equivalent offense is found in Canadian law. But after a review, officials decided to grant her citizenship.

Ms Kartasheva started a petition last month and was overwhelmed by the letters of support she received from Russian dissidents and human rights groups.

“I find it truly appalling that we have a bureaucracy that is so rigid at best, or so completely obtuse, that they have no idea that someone in this situation needs protection rather than prosecution in Canada,” said Aurel Braun. , professor of international relations and political science at the University of Toronto and author of several books on Russian politics.

Ms. Kartasheva and her husband, both tech workers, came to Ottawa as permanent residents in 2019, reluctant to leave the country they loved. But, she said, Russia's political climate made even walking to work, under the gaze of heavily armed police, a daily concern. One of her first culture shocks in Canada was the absence of uniformed officers monitoring the streets of the capital.

As she grew comfortable with life in Canada, Ms. Kartasheva freely expressed the political views she had largely bottled up at home. She took part in anti-Putin protests outside the Russian embassy in Ottawa and shared her views on social media. She also co-founded the Russian-Canadian Democratic Alliance, a pro-democracy organization.

Her activism quickly caught the attention of Russian authorities. They arrested Ms. Kartasheva in absentia in April 2023, claiming she spread “false information” about the Russian military in statements she made from Canada in social media posts about the massacre in Bucha, Ukraine. The charges were brought under a series of censorship laws introduced as part of Russia's crackdown on opposition to the war.

[Read: How the Russian Government Silences Wartime Dissent]

Ms. Kartasheva's arrest was ordered by Elena Lenskaya, a judge at the Basmanny District Court in central Moscow, known to handle cases of high-profile opponents of President Vladimir Putin, including Vladimir Kara-Murza and Aleksei Navalny.

Both Judge Lenskaya and the Basmanny District Court have been sanctioned by Canada for human rights violations in the past fourteen months.

“There are regimes that do not hesitate to go after their former citizens, even if they have left the country, because these regimes would do anything to stay in power,” said Professor Braun. “They are absolutely ruthless.”

Ms. Kartasheva believes the Russian embassy reported her to authorities in Russia. The embassy did not respond to a question about that claim.

“To our knowledge, these types of crimes are being prosecuted in other domestic jurisdictions, including Canada,” the report said in an emailed statement.

Canada's law against spreading fake news was declared unconstitutional in 1992, and the Supreme Court noted that other democracies did not have such a provision, said Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, executive director and general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Even before it was abolished, a federal law committee recommended that it be repealed.

“They had said it was anachronistic because it was meant to protect the lords of the realm,” she said. “And in a democracy, in a free and democratic society, it is mainly public figures who must be able to withstand criticism and control.”

In a letter from her immigration officer, Ms. Kartasheva was told that officials had identified another Canadian law that they believed was equivalent to Russia's, one that prohibits Canadians from “conveying information they know to be false” and “with intent to injure or alarm. a person.”

This Canadian provision falls under the property rights section of the Criminal Code, Ms. Mendelsohn Aviv noted, and has been used to prosecute people for making false emergency calls and for harassing or alarming others. Officials approved Ms. Kartasheva's citizenship after considering arguments from her immigration lawyer, Mikhail Golichenko, that Russian law has no equivalent in Canada.

Ms. Kartasheva, relieved to be a Canadian citizen, plans to return to her activism after the ordeal.

“I still believe that Canada could have prevented that,” she said, adding: “At the same time, I am very grateful.”

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Vjosa Isai is a reporter and researcher for The New York Times in Toronto.

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