December 2025

 

Bill C-3: An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) came into effect this month. This amendment to Canada’s Citizenship Act means that citizenship can be obtained through descent without a limit to the number of generations between individuals born before December 15, 2025, and their Canadian ancestor. Children born after December 15, 2025, will only be able to obtain citizenship if they are born outside of Canada to a Canadian parent who spent at least three years in Canada before the child’s birth.

During Parliament’s debate on the bill, one opposition party expressed concern about the potential scope of the bill, noting that 150,000 to 300,000 individuals could potentially be eligible for citizenship.

Increasingly, our office is being approached by individuals from the USA who have discovered via ancestry.com that they have a Canadian ancestor. Individuals who have benefited from the legislative changes do not need to apply for citizenship – they are considered citizens by birth. They need only apply for a citizenship certificate to obtain proof of citizenship. With this, they can apply for their Canadian passport. In their citizenship certificate application, they must provide documentation establishing their identity, and birth records for themselves and their parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, and so forth, back to the ancestor born in Canada.

Official birth records are required. This can pose a problem, as citizenship claims can predate official government record-keeping. Death records, marriage records, census excerpts, baptismal records, and US immigration records are other documents that can assist the Canadian Immigration department in ascertaining the claim for Canadian citizenship, especially when names vary across documents.

One group affected by the changes to the law are Acadians, descendants of French settlers who arrived in Canada in the 1600s and 1700s, who the British deported to the USA. The Canadian government has helpfully provided information on how to access documents related to Acadian ancestors on their genealogy webpage.

Other applicants could consider consulting a genealogical society. The Canadian government has published a list of societies in Canada, as well as religious organizations that kept birth archives. Library and Archives Canada also maintains a list of freelance researchers who can be hired for a fee to assist in genealogical research.