The Canadian Bar Association is warning senators that the Carney government’s latest citizenship overhaul still shuts out adopted children, even as it extends automatic citizenship to grandchildren of Canadians born abroad. Lawyers say the bill creates a two-tiered system that treats adoptees as second-class.“It treats adopted children differently from those born to Canadian citizens,” wrote Calgary immigration lawyer Jatin Shory, who chairs the Bar Association’s immigration law section. Blacklock's Reporter says he urged senators studying the bill to amend it so that adopted children receive citizenship retroactively to their date of birth.Bill C-3, which changes the Citizenship Act to grant automatic citizenship to grandchildren of Canadians living overseas, stems from a 2023 Ontario Superior Court ruling that struck down Ottawa’s long-standing first-generation limit on citizenship by descent. Parliament has until November 20 to pass the bill or risk running afoul of the court..But the bar association says the legislation doesn’t fix a constitutional problem: adoptees still don’t get the same rights as children born to Canadian parents. Under current rules, a natural-born Canadian passes citizenship to their children the moment they’re born. An adoptee, however, only becomes a citizen when Ottawa approves their citizenship application — and only children born after that approval qualify for citizenship themselves.The association says that distinction is discriminatory and warns the omission will invite new court challenges.Bill C-3 passed the House of Commons narrowly on November 5 in a 177–163 vote, with Conservatives and Bloc MPs raising broader concerns about national identity and integration..“Future courts will be dealing with this,” said Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who argued that Canada must place greater value on its citizenship.“Without national identity, integration is impossible and the collapse of our country is inevitable,” she told the Commons.Bloc MP Mario Simard echoed the warning, saying Québec places deep importance on collective identity.“How can we integrate migrants if we do not have a collective identity? It is absolutely impossible,” he said.
