'Lost Canadians' citizenship bill tabled as court deadline looms

Immigration Minister Lena Diab tabled legislation Thursday to restore citizenship to the "lost Canadians" after a court found the existing law unconstitutional.

The term refers to people who were born outside of the country to Canadian parents who were also born in another country.

In 2009, the federal Conservative government of the day changed the law so that Canadians who were born abroad could not pass down their citizenship if their child was born outside of Canada.

That law was deemed unconstitutional by the Ontario Superior Court in December 2023 and the Liberal government did not challenge the ruling.

The government received its fourth deadline extension to pass legislation to address the issue in April.

It applied for a one-year extension, but Justice Jasmine Akbarali set a Nov. 20 deadline, saying that should be enough time for the government to implement "remedial legislation" if it makes it a "priority."

Akbarali has criticized the government's handling of the legislation in her decisions to grant extensions, citing the harm that could follow if the Stephen Harper-era law were to be declared invalid without replacement legislation.

NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the bill was delayed in the last session of Parliament by the Liberals' failure to act in a "timely fashion" and a Conservative filibuster that stalled the House of Commons' work for months.

"The court has given the government yet another extension, and it would be incumbent on this Parliament to make sure that legislation is passed," Kwan said.

The previous "lost Canadians" citizenship bill died on the order paper when the House prorogued earlier this year. The Senate was engaged in an early study of the legislation to help it become law quickly.

The new legislation, Bill C-3, proposes giving automatic citizenship to anyone denied citizenship under the current law.

It also would establish a new framework for citizenship by descent going forward. The legislation proposes Canadian citizenship could be passed down to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, if their parents spent a cumulative three years in Canada before the child's birth or adoption.

Those were the two primary goals of the original "lost Canadians" bill.