HANSARD: Introduction of Bill C-3 to address the Lost Canadian issue

Debates of June 19th, 2025
House of Commons Hansard #19 of the 45th Parliament, 1st session.

Bill C-3
Citizenship Act
Government Orders

10:40 a.m.

Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP

Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for tabling this bill. A similar bill was before the last Parliament, and the Conservatives filibustered the House, preventing it from getting to third reading, prompting the courts to yet again extend another extension to get the law passed so that Canada's immigration Citizenship Act would be charter-compliant.

What are the minister's thoughts about the Conservatives' tactics when they first took away lost Canadians' rights to have citizenship passed on to their children, then filibustered it in the last Parliament and are now speaking against it once again?

Lena Metlege Diab Halifax West, NS
Liberal

Mr. Speaker, those are valid points. As I stated already, I do look forward to the co-operation of all parties in the House.

It is important to remind members, as well as viewers, who have really been waiting for this for years, that the reason we are here today is that sections of this were declared unconstitutional by the Ontario Supreme Court on December 19, 2023, and Parliament has had x amount of time to remedy this. We were not able to move it forward in the last session, unfortunately, because of various things, including the election, so I am here again to present the bill in order to move it forward.

What we have done in this bill is to strike a balance by protecting the value of citizenship going forward and limiting it to those whose parent has a substantial connection to Canada. If we do not do anything, then we risk losing that, and anybody could potentially apply. This is a good legislation, and I very much look forward to all colleagues working with us to advance this.