The immigration minister, Lena Diab, presented the legislation on Thursday to restore citizenship to “lost Canadians” after a court considered that the existing law is not constitutional.
The term refers to people who were born outside the country to Canadian parents who were also born in another country.
In 2009, the federal conservative government of the time changed the law so that the Canadians who were born abroad could not transmit their citizenship if their son was born outside Canada.
That law was considered unconstitutional by the Superior Court of Ontario in December 2023 and the liberal government did not challenge the ruling.
The Government received its fourth extension of the deadline to approve legislation to address the issue in April.
He requested an extension of one year, but Judge Jasmine Akbaraali established a deadline of November 20, saying that it should be enough time for the government to implement the “corrective legislation” if it does a “priority.”
Akbaraali has criticized the management of the government of the legislation in its decisions to grant extensions, citing the damage that could follow if the law of the Stephen Harper era was declared invalid without replacement legislation.
The Imigration Criticism of the NDP, Jenny Kwan, said that the bill was delayed in the last session of the Parliament for the failure of the liberals of acting in a “timely way” and a conservative filibuster that stalled the work of the House of Commons for months.
“The court has given the government another extension, and it would be incumbent to this Parliament to ensure that the legislation is approved,” Kwan said.
The previous citizenship bill of “Lost Canadians” died in the document of the Order when the Chamber was processed earlier this year. The Senate dedicated himself to an early study of legislation to help become law quickly.
The new legislation, bill C-3, proposes to give automatic citizenship to any person denied of citizens under current law.
It would also establish a new framework for citizenship for descent in the future. The legislation proposes that Canadian citizenship could be transmitted to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, if their parents spent three cumulative years in Canada before birth or adoption of the child.
Those were the two main objectives of the original bill of “Lost Canadians.”
