OTTAWA — Some individuals who acquired proof of Canadian citizenship underneath the “Misplaced Canadians” laws that handed final 12 months at the moment are being informed to give up their certificates of citizenship.
Immigration lawyer Amandeep Hayer mentioned certainly one of his shoppers acquired a message from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada on Saturday saying they should flip over their citizenship certificates.
The message says the certificates should be surrendered throughout an investigation as a result of the appliance didn’t cite proof of Canadian household from unique sources — similar to very important statistics — clarify why unique paperwork weren’t supplied and element efforts to acquire these paperwork.
“Now, typically IRCC will permit different proof, however they do anticipate you to attempt to acquire the official beginning data first,” Hayer mentioned.
Hayer mentioned, primarily based on Reddit threads on the topic, he estimates “a minimum of a pair hundred folks” have acquired related letters.
When Invoice C-3 turned regulation, it created new citizenship by descent guidelines meant to exchange a Stephen Harper-era regulation limiting the power to cross on Canadian citizenship to the primary era born exterior Canada. That regulation was deemed unconstitutional in December 2023 by an Ontario Superior Courtroom decide.
The brand new regulation says that individuals born or adopted exterior of Canada earlier than Dec. 15, 2025 are mechanically Canadian if they will show that they had a Canadian father or mother. This is applicable to anybody whose father or mother additionally turned Canadian due to the brand new regulation, which suggests it may stretch again generations.
Hayer mentioned this modification has folks trying deep of their family tree for Canadian ancestors, however discovering paperwork to show that may be troublesome. That has some folks to comb by way of census information, baptismal data and third-party providers like Ancestry.com to show Canadian lineage, he mentioned.
Anybody born or adopted overseas on or after Dec. 15, 2025 to a Canadian father or mother who was additionally born exterior the nation can solely declare citizenship if their father or mother spent a minimum of three years in Canada earlier than their beginning.
The Canadian Press has reached out to Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s workplace and IRCC for remark however has not but acquired a response.
Maureen Silcoff, an immigration lawyer with 38 years expertise, mentioned she’s by no means seen a state of affairs like this earlier than. Whereas the minister has authority to assessment and droop paperwork like this, Silcoff mentioned, the actual fact these citizenship certificates had been issued after which pulled again raises administration questions.
“It raises a query, initially, why was a certificates issued if the necessities weren’t met to start out with? And the second query that involves thoughts is, may it’s that the reason was certainly submitted however by some means missed?” she mentioned.
“Both means, it’s an issue. In the event that they didn’t and so they obtained approval, it’s a downside. In the event that they did and it was missed, it’s additionally an issue.”
The letter states that recipients can have a chance to reply with additional documentary proof supporting their citizenship declare, and if that’s accepted they are going to get their citizenship certificates again. The letter additionally says that authorities programs have been up to date to indicate the recipient’s citizenship is underneath assessment.
Silcoff mentioned IRCC wants to clarify why these letters are being issued after folks already acquired their citizenship, as it’s leaving folks in authorized limbo.
Hayer mentioned that anybody who acquired certainly one of these letters ought to contact IRCC for extra info.
“I’d additionally persuade anyone who acquired these to do an entry to info request into their file and see … what the notes present,” he mentioned.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jun 15, 2026.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
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