An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025)
Bill C-3 (An Act to amend the Citizenship Act, 2025) received royal assent on November 20, 2025 (S.C. 2025, c. 6). Government bill responding to the Ontario Superior Court ruling in Bjorkquist v. Canada (2023 ONSC 7152) which found the Citizenship Act's first-generation cut-off rule (section 3(3)) unconstitutional under Charter sections 6 (mobility) and 15 (equality). Substantive provisions: restores Canadian citizenship by descent to children born abroad to Canadian-citizen parents who were themselves born abroad (the so-called Lost Canadians who had been excluded since the 2009 Conservative-government amendment to section 3(3)); applies retroactively to those affected; preserves the federal-jurisdiction framework over citizenship under section 91(25) of the Constitution Act, 1867. Estimated to affect approximately 100,000 Canadians and their descendants per Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) analysis. Companion to multiple previous PMBs since 2014 that had failed to pass.
Status
Quick learn
Restores Canadian citizenship to people born abroad whose Canadian parent was also born abroad (so-called lost Canadians). Follows a 2023 Ontario court ruling that the previous rules violated the Charter. Reintroduction of the 44th Parliament's C-9-44, which had been delayed by the 2025 election.
Issues this bill touches
- Immigration
Restores citizenship to second-generation people born abroad after the 2023 Ontario court ruling.
Legislative history
- First reading
First reading in the House of Commons.
View source - Introduced
Tabled in the originating chamber by the sponsor.
View source - Second reading
Second reading in the House of Commons.
View source - Third reading
Third reading in the House of Commons.
View source - First reading
First reading in the Senate.
View source - Second reading
Second reading in the Senate.
View source - Third reading
Third reading in the Senate.
View source - Royal assent
Royal assent received.
View source - Introduced
Tabled in the originating chamber by the sponsor.
View source - Second reading
Debated in principle; vote sends the bill to committee.
View source - Second reading
Debated in principle; vote sends the bill to committee.
View source
Sponsored by
Anita AnandLIBERALOfficial source
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