FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 3, 2025
After 10-Year Fight, MP Jenny Kwan Wins Major Victory to Restore Citizenship Rights for “Lost Canadians”
OTTAWA — After more than a decade of relentless advocacy, NDP MP Jenny Kwan, the NDP Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, has secured a major breakthrough in the fight for justice for Lost Canadians — families who have been denied their rightful citizenship because of an unjust, discriminatory law. Kwan’s amendments were adopted in the House of Commons — marking a historic win for fairness, equality, and the thousands of families who have fought alongside her for justice.
“This is a victory for every family who refused to give up, for every Canadian denied their birthright, and for the principle that citizenship belongs to the people — not to politicians,” said Kwan.
“For over ten years, thousands of families have been denied their birthright as Canadians because of a cruel and exclusionary policy passed by the Conservatives in 2009,” said Kwan. “That law stripped second-generation Canadians born abroad of the right to pass citizenship to their children. It was wrong then — and it’s wrong now.”
Kwan has stood shoulder to shoulder with Lost Canadians and their allies for over a decade — organizing, pressing governments to act, and negotiating across party lines to fix this injustice. Her fight has always been rooted in one simple belief: no one should lose their birthright to Canadian citizenship because they are global citizens.
In 2022, Senator Yonah Martin introduced Bill S-245 to begin addressing the Lost Canadians issue. Kwan successfully advanced key amendments to restore the right to citizenship for those unfairly excluded — only to see Conservative MPs block the bill from moving forward. When the government later introduced Bill C-71, Conservatives again refused to move on the legislation, denying justice to thousands of families.
After Parliament was prorogued and the bill died on the order paper, the government reintroduced it as Bill C-3. But once again, Conservatives — joined by Bloc Québécois MPs — worked to weaken the bill, inserting punitive requirements that treated Lost Canadians as outsiders in their own country. Their changes would have forced Canadians to prove 1,095 consecutive days of residence, and subjected them to new language, knowledge, and security tests — as if they were applying to immigrate rather than reclaiming their rightful citizenship.
“These changes are completely unacceptable. Let’s be clear: Lost Canadians are not immigrants. They are Canadians who were stripped of their rights by an unfair and discriminatory law. They should not be treated as second class citizens. They are not newcomers trying to earn their citizenship. They have substantial connections to Canada and recognizing their birth right do not diminish the value of Canadian citizenship, it honours their Canadian heritage and respects the Charter”, said Kwan.
Parliament's adoption of Kwan's amendment motions to restore the original intent of Bill C-3 represents a victory for fairness, inclusion, and common sense. Canadians who live, work, or study abroad, fall in love and have family abroad — should never be treated as lesser citizens.
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Read MP Kwan’s adopted amendments: ourcommons.ca/documentviewer/en/45-1/house/sitting-39/order-notice/page-12
Photo Captions:
1. In 2016, MP Jenny Kwan held a press conference in Parliament with “Lost Canadians” and advocate Don Chapman, calling on the government to amend the Citizenship Act.
2. In 2023, MP Jenny Kwan, “Lost Canadians” advocate Don Chapman, and world-renowned surfer Erin Brooks — who lost her Canadian citizenship — held a press conference urging the government to amend the law.
