:Lost Canadians

Types of persons who would not have acquired Canadian citizenship when it was created under the 1946 citizenship laws included the following:

• Someone born in another country who did not live in Canada on their 24th birthday
• A "war bride" who was never naturalized
• A war bride's child who was never naturalized
• An unregistered "border baby" – a person with Canadian parents who was born in the U.S. and not registered, commonly someone whose mother crossed into the U.S. to give birth in the closest hospital{{cite encyclopedia |first1=Richard |last1=Foot |first2=Peggy Ann |last2=Osborne |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lost-canadians/ |title=Lost Canadians |encyclopedia=The Canadian Encyclopedia |date=July 25, 2017 }}
• In certain circumstances, someone whose connection to Canada involved descent through a woman rather than a man
• Someone born out of wedlock
• A person born to a parent on military service outside Canada

Types of persons who lost their Canadian citizenship included the following (based on both the 1946 and 1977 Citizenship Acts):

• A second-generation born-abroad Canadian who did not apply to retain citizenship by their 28th birthday
• Those whose father naturalized in another country while they were children{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/committee-report-urges-citizenship-for-lost-canadians-1.654870 |title=Committee report urges citizenship for 'Lost Canadians' |publisher=CBC News |date=2007-12-05 |access-date=2013-01-03}}
• A woman who married a non-Canadian before 1947
• A child of a woman who married a non-Canadian before 1947, regardless of whether that child was born or lived in Canada
• A Canadian who took citizenship of another country before 1977

In most cases, Lost Canadians were never aware that they were not citizens (or had lost their citizenship) until they applied for government pensions, attempted to receive healthcare or applied for passports.{{cite web |title=Who Are The Lost Canadians? |first=Don |last=Chapman |work=The Lost Canadians (blog) |url=http://blog.lostcanadian.com/2008/12/who-are-lost-canadians.html |accessdate=December 16, 2011}}

On May 29, 2007, Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley (CPC) announced her proposal to amend the Citizenship Act. Under the proposal, anyone naturalized in Canada since 1947 would have citizenship even if they lost it under the 1947 Act. Also, anyone born since 1947 outside the country to a Canadian mother or father, in or out of wedlock, would have citizenship if they are the first generation born abroad.{{cite press release

| title = Statement from the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration on Proposed Changes to the Citizenship Act

| publisher = CIC Canada

| date = 2007-05-29

| url = http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/speech-2007/2007-05-29a.html

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070603234904/http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/speech-2007/2007-05-29a.html

|archive-date=2007-06-03

| accessdate = 2007-05-30

}} Appearing before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, Finley asserted that as of May 24, 2007, there were only 285 cases of individuals in Canada whose citizenship status needed to be resolved.[http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/speech-2007/2007-05-29.html Notes for an Address by The Honourable Diane Finley, PC, MP: Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration “Main Estimates and Loss of Citizenship”] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070607094749/http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/speech-2007/2007-05-29.html|date=2007-06-07}}, Ottawa, Ontario, May 29, 2007 (archived from [http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/press/speech-2007/2007-05-29.html the original] on 2007-06-07). Under the proposed legislation, anyone born before 1947 to a Canadian citizen abroad would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis; such individuals would have to apply for a ministerial permit.{{cite web|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070529/citizenship_070529|accessdate=2007-05-30|title=Citizenship limbo to end for war bride children|date=2007-05-29|author=Staff|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118220109/http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070529/citizenship_070529|archive-date=2007-11-18}}

Bill C-37, which received Royal Assent on April 17, 2008, amended the Citizenship Act to give Canadian citizenship to those who lost or never had it due to certain provisions in existing and former legislation.{{cite web|url=http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2008/2008-04-16.asp|accessdate=2008-04-24|title=Legislation to restore citizenship to lost Canadians passes|date=2008-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090706120706/http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2008/2008-04-16.asp|archive-date=2009-07-06|url-status=dead}} The law came into effect on April 17, 2009, one year following Royal Assent.{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bill-to-give-citizenship-to-lost-canadians-passes-1.720648|access-date=2008-04-24|title=Bill to give citizenship to Lost Canadians passes|date=2008-04-17|author=CBCnews.ca News Staff | work=CBC News}}

People who were citizens when the law came into force did not lose citizenship as a result of these amendments. The law was made retroactive to the time of birth or loss of citizenship, and gave citizenship to the following categories of people:

• People who became citizens when the first citizenship act took effect on January 1, 1947 (including people born in Canada prior to 1947 and war brides) and who then lost their citizenship;
• Anyone who was born in Canada or had become a Canadian citizen on or after January 1, 1947, and had then lost citizenship; and
• Anyone born abroad to a Canadian citizen mother on or after January 1, 1947, if not already a citizen, but only if they were the first generation born abroad.

The exceptions are those born in Canada to a foreign diplomat, those who renounced their citizenship with Canadian authorities, and those whose citizenship was revoked by the government because it was obtained by fraud.

As of 2009, there are still some people who are sometimes referred to as Lost Canadians, including some children of war brides, children born out of wedlock during the Second World War, and Mennonites who have been refused citizenship by the Canadian government.{{cite web|url=http://sen.parl.gc.ca/lmilne/data/speeches/second_reading_speeach.htm|title=Still Lost Canadians Protest|date=2009-10-22|author=Terry Milewski}} {{dead link|date=December 2010|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smjrQPLeWkU |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/smjrQPLeWkU |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}} As of 21 October 2009, there were currently 81 people who are asserted to be such cases,{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} but this number is shrinking as the remaining people in this category die off. One person who died while waiting for citizenship (in February 2009) was Guy Valliere,{{cite news |url=http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=e8a5e152-dae2-49c6-9302-bb63a017ecae |title=How Ottawa cheats some Canadians out of citizenship |publisher=Vancouver Sun |date=2009-03-11 |accessdate=2013-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119150330/http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=e8a5e152-dae2-49c6-9302-bb63a017ecae |archive-date=2016-01-19 }}{{cite web|url=http://sen.parl.gc.ca/lmilne/data/speeches/second_reading_speeach.htm|title=Senate Hansard|date=2009-03-04|author=Canadian Senate Hansard}} {{dead link|date=December 2010|url=http://sen.parl.gc.ca/lmilne/data/speeches/second_reading_speeach.htm}} a World War II veteran who had been publicly promised citizenship by Diane Finley.{{cite web|url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/40/2/parlbus/chambus/senate/DEB-E/017db_2009-03-10-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=40&Ses=2|title=Senate Hansard|date=2009-03-10|author=Canadian Senate Hansard}}

Kasey Neal, aged two and a half as of 2010, was denied citizenship because her grandparent was a female Canadian rather than a male Canadian.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}} Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) claimed that she is not eligible because her parent was at first denied citizenship and then was later granted retroactive citizenship (which would seem to make her the daughter of a Canadian and thus ordinarily guarantee citizenship). The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Benner v. Canada (1997){{cite web|url=http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1997/1997scr1-358/1997scr1-358.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110814031728/http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/1997/1997scr1-358/1997scr1-358.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-08-14 |title=Supreme Court of Canada – Decisions |date=1997-02-27 |author=Lostcanadian.com }} that children of female Canadians are legally guaranteed all rights and privileges that children of male Canadians receive; however, this court decision was not interpreted by the CIC in favour of her case for citizenship.{{cite web|url=http://blog.lostcanadian.com/2010/02/govt-discriminates-against-women-letter.html|title=Gov't Discriminates against Women|date=2010-02-07|author=Lostcanadian.com}} This denial of citizenship is being brought before judicial review and could lead to a class-action lawsuit if the Supreme Court's decision is ignored by CIC.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

In September 2010, Priscilla Corrie (87), a "war bride", was denied a Canadian passport despite having received passports in the past and despite being on Old Age Pension and Canadian Pension Plan and having come to Canada when she was 20.{{cite news |url=http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=a74209f1-f68b-4be1-8500-56c34e11afeb |title=War bride, 87, denied new passport |publisher=Vancouver Sun |date=2010-09-04 |accessdate=2013-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119150330/http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=a74209f1-f68b-4be1-8500-56c34e11afeb |archive-date=2016-01-19 }} Her passport was issued later that year, after the government was forced to act due to media coverage of the incident in the Vancouver Sun newspaper.{{cite news|last=Bramham |first=Daphne |url=http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/10/29/war-bride-finally-gets-her-canadian-passport-after-years-of-being-denied |title=War bride finally gets her Canadian passport after years of being denied |publisher=Vancouver Sun |accessdate=2013-01-03}}{{cite news |url=http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=df11d2e6-0ba7-4156-bc56-2b83085461c9 |title=Citizenship battle finally ends, but tangled web of rules remains |publisher=Vancouver Sun |date=2010-09-13 |accessdate=2013-01-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119150330/http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=df11d2e6-0ba7-4156-bc56-2b83085461c9 |archive-date=2016-01-19 }}

Sandra Burke came to Canada at six years of age with her Canadian father after her American mother died.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} He then abandoned her, and she was raised by her paternal grandmother in Toronto and P.E.I.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}} She has been unable to produce copies of her entry documents to Canada, and {{As of|2010|09|lc=y}}, the Citizenship and Immigration office of Canada has refused to search their archives.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

In 2010, Burke was 66 and was facing possible removal as well as losing old age benefits.[https://vancouversun.com/Canadian+prove/3493583/story.html Vancouver Sun – Are you sure you are Canadian? Can you prove it?] {{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

On December 21, 2010, in Mississauga, Ontario, Burke was finally able to take her oath of statehood, after a lengthy fight and support from her MP.{{cite web|url=http://www.vancouverobserver.com/world/lost-canadians/2010/12/23/not-your-standard-new-canadian|title=Not your standard new Canadian |website=Vancouverobserver.com|accessdate=1 October 2017}}{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2010/12/14/woman_granted_citizenship_after_59_years_in_canada.html|title=Woman granted citizenship after 59 years in Canada|first=Nicholas|last=Keung|date=14 December 2010|accessdate=1 October 2017|newspaper=Toronto Star}}

The daughter of a Canadian soldier and a British-born mother naturalized as a Canadian citizen in 1955, Jackie Scott was refused a citizenship card in 2005. She was born while her father was stationed in England during the war in 1945; her parents were unmarried at the time.{{cite news|author=Darren Fleet |url=http://www.vancouverobserver.com/politics/2010/07/01/canadas-bureaucracy-still-denies-citizenship-children-soldiers |title=Canada's bureaucracy still denies citizenship to children of soldiers |publisher=The Vancouver Observer |date=2010-07-01 |accessdate=2013-01-03}} In 2013, Jackie Scott took her case to the courts to seek judicial review of her exclusion.{{cite news| url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/07/19/womans_long_fight_to_be_recognized_as_a_canadian_citizen_heads_to_court.html | location=Toronto | work=The Star | title=Woman's long fight to be recognized as a Canadian citizen heads to court | date=2013-07-19}}{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/22/court-challenge-gives-hope-to-out-of-wedlock-children-of-canadian-soldiers-in-second-world-war/ |title=Court challenge gives hope to out-of-wedlock children of Canadian soldiers in Second World War | National Post |publisher=News.nationalpost.com |date=2013-07-22 |accessdate=2014-06-04}}

Funk was born in Mexico to Canadian parents and moved back to Canada with them when she was two months old. Since then, Canada has been her home and she holds no other citizenship. She and her parents were unaware of a law requiring people born overseas between 1977 and 1981 to parents also born abroad to apply to maintain their citizenship by the age of 28, and missed the deadline. The arcane rule was abolished in 2009, however the change was not retroactive.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/byrdie-funk-lost-canadian-1.3768587|title='It was a complete shock': Arcane law strips B.C. woman of Canadian citizenship|website=Cbc.ca|accessdate=1 October 2017}} Funk joined the "Lost Canadians" group as she worked through the bureaucracy to regain her citizenship, which she regained on July 1, 2017.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bc-woman-regains-canadian-citizenship-stripped-by-arcane-law-1.4187811|title='I belong again,' says B.C. woman after regaining citizenship stripped by arcane law|website=Cbc.ca|accessdate=1 October 2017}}

Bill C-37, which attempted to address the original phenomenon, included a provision that Canadian citizens by birth who were born outside Canada could not pass citizenship to their children born outside the country. This in turn has led to the potential creation of a new group of "Lost Canadians", with one notable example being Rachel Chandler, born in China to a Libya-born son of Canadian parents and a Chinese woman. Because her parents' marriage was not recognized by China at the time of her birth, she was not granted citizenship by China, and because she was born after Bill C-37 took effect, her father could not pass on his Canadian citizenship to her. This apparently rendered her stateless (which is against the Convention on the Rights of the Child, of which Canada is a signatory).{{cite web|url=http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=c3a5560d-5170-4d4a-a318-a8675e759171|title=Citizenship Act creates a 'stateless' child |date=2009-09-25|author=Vancouver Sun|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604120258/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=c3a5560d-5170-4d4a-a318-a8675e759171|archive-date=2011-06-04}} Chandler now holds an Irish passport. She was entitled to Irish citizenship through her Irish-born paternal grandfather.{{cite web|url=http://www.lostcanadians.org/forum/topics/ireland-saves-canadians|title=Rachel Chandler's status highlights a policy that could see thousands of stateless children born abroad to Canadians|first=Daphne|last=Branham|work=The Vancouver Sun|publisher=LostCanadians.org|date=October 9, 2010|accessdate=March 13, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324084319/http://www.lostcanadians.org/forum/topics/ireland-saves-canadians |archive-date=March 24, 2012}}

John Nicolas Fortin-Rodriguez of Magog, Quebec, born in Mexico in 2011 to Patrick Fortin (himself born abroad, the son of a Canadian soldier posted to CFB Lahr in Cold War-era West Germany) and Lucero Rodriguez (an immigrant from Mexico to Canada), holds a Mexican passport with a Canadian visa but has been denied Canadian citizenship due to being second generation born abroad.{{cite web|url=http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/estrie/2014/02/17/005-parents-canadiens-citoyennete-john-nicolas.shtml|title=Un père canadien de Magog incapable de faire reconnaître la citoyenneté de son bébé|publisher=ICI.Radio-Canada.ca|date=2014-02-17|accessdate=2014-06-04}}

In addition, some people born abroad in the second and subsequent generations not entitled to citizenship under previous versions of the Citizenship Act remain excluded due to the wording of changes which were part of Bill C-24 (2014). This limitation does not apply to people born before 2009 in similar circumstances, whose ancestor was not regularized by C-24.{{Cite web|url=https://ccla.org/understanding-bill-c-24/|title=Understanding Bill C-24 and Recent Changes to the Citizenship Act – Canadian Civil Liberties Association|date=2015-05-19|website=Canadian Civil Liberties Association|language=en-US|access-date=2016-06-01}}

One notable Lost Canadian was Robert Goulet. He had provided evidence to support a claim of citizenship, but he died before it was approved.[https://web.archive.org/web/20071102175420/http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Worthington_Peter/2007/11/02/4624607.php Peter Worthington, "Goulet was a 'lost Canadian' ", Toronto Sun, November 2, 2007.]

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite canlaw|short title =Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act|abbr =S.C.|year =2014|chapter =22|link =http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/AnnualStatutes/2014_22/FullText.html|linkloc =laws.justice.gc.ca}}
• {{Cite canlaw|short title =Protection of Canada from Terrorists Act|abbr =S.C.|year =2015|chapter =9|section=10{{en dash}}11|link =http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/AnnualStatutes/2015_9/FullText.html|linkloc =laws.justice.gc.ca}}
• {{Cite canlaw|short title =Citizenship Act|abbr =R.S.C.|year =1985|chapter =C-29|link= http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-29/index.html}}
• [https://docs.google.com/View?id=dgs65rwg_61fsxxv9gj Lost Canadians F.A.Q]

Category:Canadian nationality law

Category:Statelessness