The "Lost Canadians" legislation, which aims to fix Canada's unconstitutional citizenship by descent rules, passed in the Senate Wednesday and received royal assent Thursday afternoon.
The term refers to people who were born outside of the country to Canadian parents who were also born in another country.
In 2009, the federal government changed the law so that Canadians born abroad could only pass down their citizenship if their child was born in Canada, but that was deemed unconstitutional by the Ontario Superior Court in December 2023.
The legislation proposed Canadian citizenship could be passed down to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, if the parents spent a cumulative three years in Canada before the child's birth or adoption.
Both Ontario Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith and B.C. NDP MP Jenny Kwan attempted to introduce amendments to clarify the adoption rules, but both were unsuccessful.
When the bill was still before the House of Commons, Conservative and Bloc Québécois members of the immigration committee tried to amend the legislation to state that the three-year period in the substantial connection test needed to take place within five consecutive years.
However, that amendment was removed by Liberal and NDP MPs before the bill was sent to the Senate.
