Canada's immigration minister is denying any role in the removal of references to gay rights from a citizenship study guide released last fall.

Asked Wednesday why he blocked any information about same-sex marriage and charter rights protecting sexual orientation, Jason Kenney said: "I did not do such a thing. No, no, you are wrong."

The minister then disappeared into the Conservative caucus room in the Centre Block of Parliament Hill.

The Canadian Press reported this week that an early draft of the guide, which new immigrants must study for citizenship tests starting March 15, included references to the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969 along with other gay-rights milestones.

But a memo to Kenney from bureaucrats at Citizenship and Immigration last June show the sections were removed at the request of the minister's office. Another memo to Kenney in August indicates bureaucrats were rebuffed when they made a last-ditch request to have gay rights re-inserted in the guide.

The guide released last November with fanfare made only a passing reference to gays and lesbians, in a photo caption. Internal documents related to the guide were obtained under the Access to Information Act.

Asked about Kenney's apparent denial, spokesman Alykhan Velshi said Wednesday that "the minister's signature isn't on any decision note or anywhere else" in the released documents, suggesting someone else in the minister's office made the gay-rights decision on his behalf.

Velshi was asked last week to explain Kenney's decision to remove the gay-rights material. He responded that the guide could not be "encyclopedic" — without any indication the minister might not have been responsible for the removal.

On Wednesday, Velshi did not respond to further requests for clarification.