Ottawa Reviews Citizenship Certificates Issued Under New Legislation
Canada's Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship department has suspended citizenship for 67 people as part of a sweeping review of its recently launched citizenship by descent program — one of the most significant expansions of Canadian citizenship rights in decades.
The federal government has now reviewed all approximately 6,500 applications received under legislation passed last year that aimed to restore citizenship to so-called "lost Canadians" — individuals who lost or were never properly granted citizenship due to outdated rules and bureaucratic gaps in previous immigration law.
What Are 'Lost Canadians'?
The term "lost Canadians" refers to people who were born to Canadian parents abroad, or who lost citizenship through old provisions that stripped it from those who didn't formally affirm it at certain life milestones. For decades, advocacy groups pushed the federal government to address these gaps, arguing that thousands of people were unjustly excluded from citizenship they were entitled to by birth and lineage.
Legislation passed in 2024 was meant to fix those gaps — creating a new pathway for citizenship by descent and processing a backlog of applicants who had long been in legal limbo.
Why the Suspensions?
According to Immigration Canada, the review found that a subset of the certificates may have been issued without sufficient evidence to support the claims. The department confirmed it is now re-examining those 67 cases before deciding whether to reinstate, modify, or formally revoke the certificates.
Officials have not specified what type of evidentiary gaps triggered the suspensions, but the review suggests the rush to process thousands of applications may have led to some approvals that require a second look.
For the individuals affected, the suspension puts their legal status in an uncomfortable grey zone — they received certificates indicating Canadian citizenship, only to have them paused pending further review.
Broader Implications
The program has been politically sensitive since its inception. Critics argued the legislation was too broad and could be exploited; supporters countered that the government was finally righting a historical wrong for people who had lived their entire lives as Canadians in every sense but the legal one.
The suspension of 67 certificates — out of roughly 6,500 reviewed — represents about one per cent of all applications, which the government will likely cite as evidence that the program largely worked as intended. But for those 67 individuals, the stakes are deeply personal.
Immigration lawyers and advocacy organizations have urged the department to act quickly and transparently in resolving the flagged cases, noting that prolonged uncertainty can affect everything from travel documents to social benefits and employment eligibility.
What Happens Next
Immigration Canada says each of the 67 suspended cases will be reviewed individually, with applicants notified of the outcome. The department has not set a public timeline for completing those reviews.
For the thousands of lost Canadians who did successfully receive their certificates, the program remains intact — and represents a meaningful acknowledgment that Canada's citizenship laws had, for too long, left real people behind.
Source: CBC Politics
