Government asks for third extension on court deadline to pass ‘lost Canadians’ bill

OTTAWA — The federal government is seeking a third extension to a court-mandated deadline to pass legislation that grants citizenship to “lost Canadians,” Immigration Minister Marc Miller said on Thursday.

Miller said the government is asking the court for a three-month extension to the Dec. 19 deadline.

In 2009, former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper’s government changed the law so Canadian parents who were born abroad could not pass down their citizenship unless their child was born in Canada.

Those who have not had access to citizenship rights as a result of the amendments came to be known as “lost Canadians.”

Last year, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the 2009 law is unconstitutional and the federal government agreed with the ruling.

“My department and my team are moving to the next gear, which is being proactive about this and making sure we are rectifying something that is a Charter violation, which is much more than any other breach of the law,” Miller said.

“Understanding and appreciating who is completely touched by this is the next step in a world where people are increasingly mobile.”

The Liberal bill would automatically grant citizenship to people who lost that right following the 2009 Conservative legislation.

In addition, it would create a new test to access citizenship for affected children after the legislation passes.

Parents who were born abroad would have to have spent at least three cumulative years in Canada in order to pass citizenship onto a child who is born or adopted abroad.

The bill is currently in the second reading stage in the House of Commons.

The legislation has not advanced beyond that because a debate over a Conservative privilege motion has paused all legislative work since late September.

Miller told the committee his own children, who were all born abroad, would not be able to pass citizenship rights on to their kids if the family continued to live outside of Canada under the current law.

Speaking in French, Miller told the committee that its pre-study of the bill it valuable, so the government’s extension application shows it is doing what is possible amid the filibuster.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2024.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press