Lost Canadians bill gets royal assent after years of parliamentary battles
2025/11/21 4 Comments
Will be interesting to see the actual take-up and to that effect, IRCC needs to resume regular reporting of citizenship proofs. Dispiriting that the government did not accept the annual public reporting amendment which, unlike other proposed amendments by the Conservatives and Bloc, did not fundamentally change the Bill.
Have a data request into IRCC for any analysis of the 4,200 pending applications and will share when received:
A bill allowing Canadians born outside the country to pass on their citizenship to future generations born abroad gained royal assent on Thursday, after years of parliamentary and judicial battles.
The legislation, which cleared its final parliamentary stage in the Senate Wednesday night, reinstates rights of Lost Canadians and reverses 2009 changes made to the Citizenship Act by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, which stripped descendants of Canadians born abroad of their automatic right to citizenship.
The government predicts tens of thousands of Lost Canadians could benefit from the change, but the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates about 115,000 could gain citizenship….
Source: Lost Canadians bill gets royal assent after years of parliamentary battles
About Andrew
Multicultural Meanderings 
I have had a personal interest in this bill, as my daughter was born abroad. I am glad to see it has passed.
While our kids were born in Canada, our two grandkids were born abroad and thus their kids would have been caught by the previous first generation limit. Out of curiosity, would my advocacy for a five year limit to meeting the residency requirement have made a difference for her in practice?
No, it would not have made a difference to her. She has now lived in Canada since age 7 continuously and she’s almost 11. By the time she has a kid, she will have definitely lived in Canada for more than 5 years.
Thanks. Suspect that would be the case for the majority who apply (but I still think the lack of a time limit is an issue).