Immigration minister says Bill C-3 brings fairness to families with kids born or adopted abroad
Bill C-3, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) – which will provide Canadian citizenship to those born before the bill’s coming into force who would be citizens but for the first-generation limit or other outdated rules – has received royal assent.
In a news release, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) described this update as a significant milestone in promoting clarity for citizenship by descent and supporting fairness for families.
According to IRCC, upon coming into force, the new legislation will allow a Canadian parent born or adopted abroad to pass on citizenship to their child born or adopted overseas on or after the date the bill comes into force, as long as they have a substantial connection to this country.
“Bill C-3 will fix long-standing issues in our citizenship laws and bring fairness to families with children born or adopted abroad,” said Lena Metlege Diab – Canada’s minister of immigration, refugees, and citizenship – in the news release.
IRCC explained that the new legislation seeks to:
- Modernize Canada’s citizenship laws
- Strengthen and safeguard Canadian citizenship
- Ensure a consistent path moving forward
- Make the Citizenship Act, 1985, more inclusive
- Affirm the principle that real and demonstrated ties to Canada impact citizenship by descent
- Help Canadians excluded under the outdated rules of past legislation fairly and clearly pass on citizenship to their children born or adopted overseas
“It will provide citizenship to people who were excluded by previous laws, and it will set clear rules for the future that reflect how modern families live,” Diab said.
“By updating the Citizenship Act to reflect the global mobility of modern Canadian families, the federal government has made access to citizenship more fair and reasonable,” added Don Chapman, founder of the Lost Canadians, in the news release.
IRCC noted that the bill will come into force on a date fixed via an order in council, which Canada will announce publicly. According to IRCC, until then, an interim measure will remain in effect for those impacted by the first‑generation limit.
Context of changes
IRCC’s news release provided the background behind the recent update. IRCC noted that the first Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947 had multiple provisions that deprived many people of their Canadian citizenship and prevented others from acquiring it altogether.
In 2009, Canada introduced the first-generation limit, which provides that a child born or adopted abroad is not a Canadian citizen by descent if their Canadian parent was also born or adopted overseas.
Other changes made in 2009 and 2015 restored or extended citizenship to most “lost Canadians,” with around 20,000 individuals requesting proof of their Canadian citizenship.
On Dec. 19, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice deemed some parts of the Citizenship Act concerning the first-generation limit unconstitutional. The federal government did not challenge this decision because it agreed that those parts of the legislation led to unacceptable outcomes for children of Canadians born abroad.
Last June 5, Diab introduced the legislation that would extend citizenship by descent beyond the first generation in a manner seeking to be inclusive and protective of the value of Canadian citizenship.
“I applaud the efforts of all who supported Bill C-3, and the federal government for doing the right thing for Canadians who lost their citizenship because of an outdated law,” Chapman said in IRCC’s news release.
