The new immigration minister is still considering a controversial option to allow new Canadians to take their oath of citizenship with the click of a button, but there are no immediate plans to implement it, he said Monday.

The government asked for public feedback in February about the idea to allow new Canadians to skip a virtual or in-person ceremony and opt instead to take the oath with the click of a mouse.

Consultation documents posted online say the new regulations were expected to come into force in June 2023, but the government has been mum about its plans since then.

The department is still mulling it over, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Monday, and he thinks it鈥檚 a good idea.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to take these moments lightly, but we do need technological options,鈥� Miller said on his way into Question Period.

鈥淭he department has been criticized, rightly, for not being adjusted to the 21st century and that option is one I think that we should preserve.鈥�

It鈥檚 particularly important for people who live in remote or rural communities, who shouldn鈥檛 have to drive long distances to swear their oath, he said.

Earlier this year, then-immigration minister Sean Fraser pitched the idea as a temporary option to help work through backlogs of people waiting for their citizenship.

The change is expected to save people up to three months of processing time, the government consultation documents said.

The responses to that consultation offered mixed views on the idea: some called it a forward thinking approach, while others thought it would degrade the value of in-person ceremonies.

The department said in a statement Monday that the comments will 鈥渋nform the next steps and the development of implementation plans.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e heard from Canadians and advocates of the importance of actually being in person. I鈥檝e also seen the importance of virtually, when there鈥檚 no question about someone鈥檚 loyalty or citizenship or oath or the seriousness he should take the Canadian citizenship,鈥� Miller said Monday.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about keeping the options open in the 21st century.鈥�

Miller said he鈥檚 administered the oath three times since taking over the immigration file during the summer cabinet shuffle, and recognizes that preserving an in-person option is 鈥減aramount.鈥�

鈥淲e have to we have to obviously preserve those.鈥�

The government expects in-person participation will drop even more once the one-click option is introduced, and there would likely be fewer ceremonies overall.

Conservatives have vowed to oppose the measure over concerns it would 鈥渃heapen鈥� the citizenship oath.

The government wants to 鈥渞educe it all to a click on a website or an app as if citizenship were no more than consenting to terms in a contract,鈥� Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec said in a statement Monday.

鈥淭he Trudeau Liberals are abandoning this special tradition and reducing our citizens to a bureaucratic number.鈥�

During the pandemic, the government added the option to allow people to pledge their allegiance to Canada in a virtual ceremony, and the practice has continued.

鈥淲e saw a firefighter in B.C. that was able to do it on the fly,鈥� Miller said, and suggested the option should remain.

鈥淚 think we need to maintain those.鈥�

Even with the virtual ceremonies, there were still 68,287 people in the backlog as of July 23, waiting to take their oaths and enjoy all the benefits of Canadian citizenship.

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