The federal immigration department says there is “high interest” from people abroad seeking Canadian citizenship under recent changes to the Citizenship Act, but the government has not provided a clear count of how many foreign residents could qualify.Conservative MP raised the issue during Commons debate on the budget Main Estimates, pressing Immigration Minister Lena Diab to confirm how many people are expected to become Canadian citizens under Bill C-3.“Bill C-3 introduced unending chain migration to Canada,” said Redekopp, the MP for Saskatoon West.Redekopp said the minister previously told committee members the bill would create fewer than 5,000 new Canadians per year.Figures show 4,075 new citizenship certificates have been issued since the Citizenship Act was rewritten Nov. 20.“Perhaps the Minister of Immigration wants to revise her forecast,” said Redekopp.Bill C-3, An Act To Amend The Citizenship Act, granted citizenship rights to grandchildren of Canadians born abroad. The legislation followed a 2023 Ontario Superior Court ruling in Bjorkquist et al v. Attorney General, which struck down a federal limit restricting citizenship by descent to the first generation born outside Canada.Redekopp asked how many foreign residents are expected to gain Canadian citizenship and voting rights under the change.“Does she stand by her estimate?” he asked.“With Bill C-3 the government acted to protect the value of Canadian citizenship by putting in clear rules,” replied Diab.Redekopp again asked whether Diab stood by the estimate of fewer than 5,000 new Canadians per year..“There is high interest in the media and everywhere else by people who are interested, but high interest and even applications do not necessarily mean people are getting citizenship,” said Diab.The Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated Bill C-3 would create 115,000 new citizens abroad.The bill limits citizenship to children whose parents spent at least 1,095 days in Canada during the five years before the child’s birth.“The department is monitoring that,” said Diab.“Bill C-3 does not create unlimited access to Canadian citizenship by descent. People have to provide proof of ancestry for every second generation in the application.”Redekopp also questioned whether adults claiming citizenship through distant ancestry should be granted citizenship without criminality checks.“Anybody can claim anything,” replied Diab. “However there is a requirement that proof of ancestry at every chain must be established.”.Federal agencies have acknowledged they do not have an estimate of how many people abroad may be eligible for Canadian citizenship under Bill C-3.Statistics Canada estimated in 2022 that as many as 5,549,800 Canadian citizens lived abroad, though the number of their children and grandchildren is unknown. The figures cited in The Canadian Diaspora: Estimating The Number Of Canadian Citizens Who Live Abroad were based on the 2016 Census.“We could update this study,” Laurent Martel, director of Statistics Canada’s Centre for Demography, testified Feb. 4 before the Senate foreign affairs committee. “I think it would be relevant.”
