The Liberals and NDP are pushing for a citizenship bill to move forward without Conservative changes that would require security screening and language checks before children born abroad to foreign-born Canadians could qualify for a passport.
Earlier this month, Conservatives, with the support of the Bloc Québécois, voted through a raft of changes to the government’s proposed legislation, known as Bill C-3.
The bill aims to reverse a change by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government in 2009 that stripped people born into this situation, who are often known as Lost Canadians, of their automatic right to citizenship.
But the Conservative amendments to the Liberal bill – expected to go to a vote on Monday – would make people aged 18 to 54 clear several hurdles in order to inherit Canadian citizenship, putting them on roughly even ground with immigrants seeking citizenship.
They would have to pass an English or French language test, be subject to security screening to check for criminal activity and pass a citizenship test demonstrating knowledge of Canadian history.
Bill C-3 requires Canadian parents born abroad to demonstrate a substantial connection to Canada before they can pass on citizenship to a child born outside the country. They would need to spend a cumulative 1,095 days – the equivalent of three years – in Canada before the birth or adoption of the child seeking citizenship.
The Conservative changes would require the 1,095 days to be consecutively spent in Canada within five years, and not made up of a few weeks, months or days over many years.
In a debate in the Commons on Friday, Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner said her changes were “common-sense amendments to try and ensure that people who are obtaining citizenship by descent would have to go through the same processes as somebody who’s obtained citizenship through naturalization.”
But NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the amendments made at committee would create “a new class of Lost Canadians.” She said Canadians who travel or work abroad and have children there “should not be penalized for it.”
Experts warned that the Conservative amendments could create stateless citizens and mean Canadians granted citizenship at birth by the bill could be stripped of their passports if they do not meet the criteria once they turn 18.
The NDP and Liberal amendments, expected to be voted on next week, aim to restore the text of the original bill.
The government brought in the bill – a carbon copy of one that failed to become law before the election – in response to a 2023 Ontario Superior Court ruling.
A judge found that it is unconstitutional to deny citizenship to children born in another country to Canadians also born outside Canada. The last Liberal government did not appeal the ruling and the court granted the government a series of extensions – until next month – to make changes to the law. The government is applying to the court to extend the deadline further.
Don Chapman, a Lost Canadian who has been campaigning for decades to restore their rights, warned that the Conservative amendments, if not reversed, could make the bill unconstitutional and could lead to a further court challenge.
He also said the changes could mean that children of Canadians born abroad, granted Canadian citizenship at birth, could be stripped of their citizenship and even made stateless at 18 if they fail to pass a language test, a citizenship test or had a criminal conviction as a teenager.
