A Canadian parliamentary committee has approved amendments to the Citizenship Bill that would limit the qualifications for citizenship by descent and bring it closer to the requirements for naturalization by immigrants.
On Tuesday, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration added new provisions to Bill C-3, requiring Canadian descendants whose parents were also born abroad to meet language and knowledge requirements and pass security checks if they want to inherit Canadian citizenship. According to the amendment, all applicants aged 18 to 55 must have sufficient English or French proficiency and a certain understanding of the responsibilities and rights of Canadian citizens. In addition, all adult applicants must undergo a security background check to determine whether they are ineligible for entry or residence.
Unlike the previously proposed requirement of 1,095 days of cumulative residence in Canada, the new amendment stipulates that: If a Canadian citizen is born abroad, to pass on citizenship to his or her next generation born abroad, he or she must have resided in Canada for at least 1,095 consecutive days in the five consecutive years before the child’s birth.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government introduced the bill in June in response to a court ruling that a provision in the Citizenship Act prohibiting automatic citizenship after two generations was unconstitutional because it restricted the automatic right of children of Canadian citizens born abroad to citizenship. Under the ruling, the minority Liberal government must pass and implement the bill by Nov. 20 to ensure it complies with the constitutional requirements of the Charter of Rights.
The lawmaker said he believed the amendments to naturalization by descent were not unconstitutional because naturalized immigrants were subject to similar regulations.
“Everyone should be satisfied,” Brunelle-Duceppe said. “Am I wrong?”
However, Uyen Hoang, director-general of the Citizenship Department at the federal immigration ministry, pointed out that there is a fundamental difference between naturalization by descent and naturalization.
When asked about the amendments, he said: “These people are automatically Canadian citizens by law at birth. The purpose of this bill is to restore the rights of Canadians who have lost their citizenship. But if these additional conditions are added, it may create a new group of ‘lost Canadians’.”
Once the committee completes the amendments, Bill C-3 will be sent to the House of Commons for debate and finalization before a third reading vote.