Moved the second reading of Bill S-230, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (granting citizenship to certain Canadians).

She said: Honourable senators, I’m honoured to rise today to speak to you about Bill S-230, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (granting citizenship to certain Canadians), a group referred to as Lost Canadians. The term “Lost Canadians,” according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, refers to people who either lost Canadian citizenship they had at birth or didn’t qualify for citizenship that would normally have been theirs by right in Canada.

This Senate public bill will address a specific gap in the Citizenship Act to capture a small group of Lost Canadians who should have been included when changes were made to Bill C-37 in 2009 — my first year as a senator. I didn’t understand the issues of Lost Canadians then. I have a better understanding today and I hope I can explain the urgency in supporting these Lost Canadians through the passage of this bill.

Before I continue, I would like to thank all those who have worked and continue to work tirelessly to support Lost Canadians who are among us.

I would like to acknowledge Don Chapman, one of the truest champions of Lost Canadians, as he himself had been a Lost Canadian. He has advocated tirelessly for these individuals and families of his own accord. When I first met him, he was passionate beyond description. I was a bit taken aback by his intensity. I said, “Can you tell me why this is so important to you?” This was around the time of Bill C-37, and I was on the committee that would study this bill. The one reason he gave helped me to understand from his point of view why he has been a tireless champion. He is a pilot by training, and he said, “If we land safely and only 99% of the passengers are safe and 1% are lost, then I have not done my job.” He himself was a Lost Canadian, but he says we must persist until all Lost Canadians have been reinstated, as is their right. I want to acknowledge Don and his incredible work. He has since become a friend.

I wish to acknowledge the work of former speaker Noël Kinsella and former senators David Tkachuk and Art Eggleton, who were also champions of the Lost Canadians file.

I also wish to acknowledge the critic of this bill, our colleague Senator Ratna Omidvar, who is quite familiar with the plight of Lost Canadians as well. I thank her for the conversations we have had leading to this moment.

Bill S-230 specifically addresses a group of Canadians who have lost their status or became stateless because of changes to policies.

From 1947 to 1977, children born abroad acquired citizenship only in the event that their parents registered them as citizens within two years of their birth. They must also have been born in wedlock to a Canadian father, or out of wedlock to a Canadian mother.

In 1977, the government introduced a new Citizenship Act. Under the new act, children born abroad on or after February 14, 1977, received their Canadian citizenship if one of their parents was a Canadian citizen, regardless of their marital status. However, if the Canadian parent was also born abroad, this child had until the age of 28 to apply to retain their Canadian citizenship. If they did not apply before their twenty-eighth birthday, their citizenship would be stripped from them.

Some of the Canadians who were not aware of this rule may have had their citizenship taken away unbeknownst to them. These were events that happened and policy that affected people’s lives.

Section 8 of the Citizenship Act read:

Where a person who was born outside Canada after February 14, 1977 is a citizen for the reason that at the time of his birth one of his parents was a citizen by virtue of paragraph 3(1)(b) or (e), that person ceases to be a citizen on attaining the age of twenty-eight years unless that person

(a) makes application to retain his citizenship; and

(b) registers as a citizen and either resides in Canada for a period of at least one year immediately preceding the date of his application or establishes a substantial connection with Canada.

The law was passed, then forgotten. The government never published a retention form; there were no instructions on how an individual would reaffirm; and for those affected, they were never told a retention requirement existed.

In 2009, Bill C-37 made changes to the Citizenship Act and tried to fix the issue of these Lost Canadians.

On April 17, 2009, the rules for Canadian citizenship changed for persons born outside Canada to Canadian parents and who were not already Canadian citizens when the rules changed. These rules did not take Canadian citizenship away from any person who was a Canadian citizen immediately before the rules came into effect. Canadian citizenship by birth outside Canada to a Canadian citizen parent — citizenship by descent — is now limited to the first generation born outside of Canada.

This means that, in general, persons who were not already Canadian citizens immediately before April 17, 2009 — the enactment of Bill C-37 — and who were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent are not Canadian if the following conditions exist: their Canadian parent was also born outside Canada to a Canadian parent, and the person is therefore the second or subsequent generation born outside of Canada; or their Canadian parent was granted Canadian citizenship under section 5.1, the adoption provisions of the Citizenship Act — the person is therefore the second generation born outside Canada — unless their Canadian parent or grandparent was employed, as described in one of the following exceptions to the first-generation limit.

The first-generation limit to citizenship does not apply to a person born outside Canada in the second or subsequent generation if the following conditions exist: at the time of the person’s birth, their Canadian parent was employed outside of Canada in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal public administration or the public service of a province or territory, other than as a locally engaged person — a Crown servant — or, at the time of their Canadian parents’ birth or adoption, the person’s Canadian grandparent was employed outside Canada in or with the Canadian Armed Forces, the federal public administration or public service of a province or territory, other than as a locally engaged person — a Crown servant.

The rules may also affect children adopted by Canadian parents outside Canada, depending on how the child obtained, or will obtain, citizenship.

Persons born to a Canadian parent who are not eligible for citizenship by descent due to the first-generation limit may apply for and obtain permanent resident status and subsequently submit an application for a grant of citizenship under section 5 of the Citizenship Act.

This change saw the age-28 rule repealed entirely. Canadians caught up in the age-28 rule but who had not yet reached that age were grandfathered in. However, Bill C-37 still left out a small group of Lost Canadians who were not included.

The group of Canadians who were born abroad between 1977 and 1981 — that is, those who turned 28 before Bill C-37 became law in 2009 — are the tiny group of individuals we are talking about in this legislation. Some of these individuals knew about the age-28 rule. They either applied to retain their citizenship or simply let it lapse. Others were not aware and subsequently lost their citizenship on their twenty-eighth birthday. Today, the age-28 retention rule still remains only for second-generation Canadians born inside a 50-month window from February 15, 1977, through April 16, 1981 — those who turned 28 before Bill C-37 became law.

Many of these individuals were raised in Canada from a young age. They went to school here, raised their families here, worked and paid taxes, and yet they turned 28 without knowing their citizenship would be stripped — no letter from Immigration Canada and no information given in advance that such a rule was in place for this group of Canadians. There are several cases I could tell you about today; however, I will refer to only two of them to give you an idea of the situation these Lost Canadians found themselves in.

Ms. Byrdie Funk was born in Mexico to two Canadian parents and was brought to Canada when she was only two months old. She grew up in southern Manitoba, where she went to school, made friends and learned to skate on the pond behind her house. Then, at age 36, she applied to renew her passport. Instead, she received a letter from the government explaining to her that she was no longer a Canadian citizen. She was 36, and the age-28 rule had applied.

Anneliese Demos is a 39-year-old mother of four who lives in Winnipeg. She works two jobs and pays income tax. She has lived in Manitoba since she was 2 years old but was born in Paraguay to Canadian parents.

In 2012, she applied for a passport to travel, which she was granted. Six years later, Ms. Demos received a letter from Citizenship and Immigration. The letter informed her that her passport was issued in error and that she was, in fact, not a Canadian citizen. The letter also requested she return her citizenship certificate — the one she received when she was 2 years old.

Ms. Demos and Ms. Funk both received a discretionary grant of citizenship from the minister and are once again Canadian citizens. These discretionary grants have happened on a case-by-case basis. The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has the discretion to grant citizenship to anyone in such special cases. This discretionary grant is to alleviate cases of statelessness or of special and unusual hardship, or to reward services of exceptional value to Canada.

However, this is not a solution to the issue these individuals are facing and does not protect these Lost Canadians. They are still living each day in fear that they could be deported from Canada. They do not have a social insurance number. They cannot access our health care system. They cannot get a job. They cannot travel and are living in limbo with their children.

Honourable colleagues, in conclusion, Bill S-230 will propose the following changes to the Citizenship Act to ensure that this small group of Lost Canadians are reinstated as Canadian citizens and given the same fairness and treatment as everyone else who did not fall within the 15-month window where the age-28 rule had applied and they were ineligible — that they had let their Canadian citizenship lapse because they turned 28 and they had not known.

The following amendments to the Citizenship Act are reflected in this bill:

1 (1) Subparagraph 3(1)(f)(iii) of the Citizenship Act is replaced by the following:

(iii) the person made an application to retain his or her citizenship under section 8 as it read before April 17, 2009, that subsequently was not approved;

(2) Subsection 3(1) of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (g):

(g.1) the person was born outside Canada after February 14, 1977, and would be a citizen if he or she had made an application to retain his or her citizenship under section 8, as it read before April 17, 2009;

(3) Subsections 3(4) and (4.1) of the Act are replaced by the following:

Exception

(4) Subsection (3) does not apply to a person who was a citizen on June 11, 2015.

2 Subparagraph 27(1)(j.1)(i) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(i) who are citizens under paragraph 3(1)(f), (g) or (g.1),

Colleagues, these individuals are mothers, fathers, children, families and veterans who are still lost. They were not given the same fairness as the rest, who did not fall into the 15-month window and gap. Now is the time to fix this error. Some of the Lost Canadians have, sadly, died waiting. We do not want any more to die before they are given the rights that Canada as a country holds so dear and what makes our nation the vibrant, multicultural nation that it is.

Honourable senators, I ask for your support of this bill at second reading. Thank you.

Senator Martin, will you take a question from Senator Dalphond?

Yes.

My question is about these Lost Canadians. Do you know the size of the group we are talking about?

I don’t have an exact number, but it is just a 15-month window. These Lost Canadians, from February 15, 1977 to April 16, 1981, would have turned 28 years of age. Therefore, they were not captured in the repeal of the age-28 provision when we passed Bill C-37.

I don’t believe they number in the thousands. Maybe in the hundreds but perhaps even less. Some of them are not known to us, but we know that advocates hear from some of them. They are very much afraid of being deported because they are stateless. I can say it’s a small group, but I cannot confirm the number at this time.

Thank you.

Are senators ready for the question?

It is moved by the Honourable Senator Martin, seconded by the Honourable Senator Carignan, that the bill be read the second time.

Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

(Motion agreed to and bill read second time.)