Citizenship rights to be extended to ‘lost Canadians’ born abroad

Following a court order, the federal government has introduced new legislation to restore the rights of “lost Canadians” born abroad and ensure it doesn’t happen to others in the future.

 

This legislation would automatically confer Canadian citizenship to persons born abroad to a Canadian parent who is also born abroad and grant direct citizenship to children of Canadians born abroad and adopted by a Canadian parent beyond the first generation.

 

As a result of the first-generation limit, Canadian citizens who were born outside Canada cannot pass on citizenship to their child born outside Canada, and cannot apply for a direct grant of citizenship for a child born outside Canada and adopted, creating generations of so-called “lost Canadians.”

 

“The current rules generally restrict citizenship by descent to the first generation, excluding some people who have a genuine connection to Canada,” said Immigration Minister Marc Miller in a news release on Thursday.

“This has unacceptable consequences for families and impacts life choices, such as where individuals may choose to live, work, study, or even where to have children and raise a family.

 

“These changes aim to be inclusive and protect the value of Canadian citizenship, as we are committed to making the citizenship process as fair and transparent as possible.”

 

According to the proposed amendment, parents born abroad who have or adopt children also born outside Canada will need to have spent at least 1,095 cumulative days of physical presence in Canada prior to the birth or adoption of their child to pass on citizenship.

 

However, with the court-stipulated June 19 deadline to roll out the new scheme, the Immigration Department will likely have to go before the judge to ask for an extension, causing further delays for affected children and grandchildren of Canadians to acquire citizenship and join families in Canada.

 

In December, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that it’s unconstitutional for Canada to deny automatic citizenship to children born abroad because their parents also happened to be born abroad. It gave the federal government six months, until June 19, to repeal what’s known as the “second-generation cut-off” rule and amend the Citizenship Act.

In 2009, the then-Conservative government changed the citizenship law and imposed the second-generation cut-off on Canadians born abroad, after Ottawa had faced a massive effort to evacuate 15,000 Lebanese Canadians stranded in Beirut during Israel’s month-long war in Lebanon in 2006.

 

The $85-million price tag of the evacuation effort sparked a debate over “Canadians of convenience” — referring to individuals with Canadian citizenship who live permanently outside of Canada without “substantive ties” to Canada, but who were nonetheless part of the government’s liability.

 

As a result, the government abolished the then existing “substantial connection” regime and adopted a blanket rule that denies the first generation born abroad the right to pass on citizenship by descent outside Canada to the second generation born abroad.

 

In January, Ottawa decided not to challenge the court decision, but instead would repeal the existing law and put forward a new bill that’s complaint with the Canadian constitution.

 

 

 

 

This article was first reported by The Star