C-3 – An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (2025) – removes the second-generation cutoff for citizenship and gives citizenship to anyone who could have had it if it wasn’t for the cutoff.
Background
So we covered this last Session but here’s a recap:
In 2009 legislation was passed that introduced the Second-Generation Cutoff for citizenship. If you’re born in Canada you’re a citizen, if your kids aren’t born in Canada they’re still citizens, but if their kids are also born outside of Canada they won’t be citizens. The second generation in a row to be born outside of Canada loses citizenship.
In 2023 the Supreme Court ruled that this creates a second class of citizen, one that can’t pass on citizenship, and as such it’s unconstitutional. C-3 (and C-71 before it) would bring the law in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Changes to Citizenship
A lot of this is the same as C-71. Anyone who had a parent that was a citizen but was denied citizenship because of the changes in 2009 will become a citizen. Anyone second generation onward gets citizenship if one of their parents was a citizen and has spent at least 3 years in Canada.
A big change here over C-71 is that this applies to adopted children as well.
Finally C-3 allows the government to make regulations around giving up citizenship for people who get it because of this legislation. The goal is to introduce a streamlined way to reject citizenship for the people who are about to get it but don’t want it.
Progress of C-3
C-3 went up for its Second Reading vote and passed with 189 voting in favour and 138 voting against.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 160 | 0 | 5 |
| Conservative | 0 | 138 | 5 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| NDP | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 1 | 0 | 0 |
The Conservatives said a lot about how this legislation will “cheapen” citizenship and are promising to introduce a number of amendments in committee.
C-3 then moved on to review by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration (CIMM).
Committee Amendments
CIMM came back with a few big changes to C-3.
First there’s some conditions to applying for citizenship now. These conditions apply to anyone between the age of 18 and 55. People in this age range now need to have adequate knowledge of English or French and have adequate knowledge of Canada and the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. Anyone 18 or over must also pass the same security assessment immigrants and refugees have to pass. (This assessment is basically to check if they’re involved in terrorist activities or are ineligible due to a past history of violent crimes.) CIMM also changes the requirement for a parent’s time spent in Canada from 3 years to 3 out of the 5 years prior to birth. So if your parent spent 3 years in Canada as a child then moved to another country you won’t qualify for Canadian citizenship. In the case of adoption it’s 3 out of the 5 years before the date of adoption.
CIMM then wants to give the government the ability to create regulations around how long someone has to physically be in Canada (so the 3 years could be changed later), how that time is calculated, and what documents are required to show that you meet the requirements.
CIMM also wants the government to publish annual reports on how many people gain citizenship through this Act, as well as a report on how many people had the security assessment waived and the reasons for waiving it.
Response to Committee
11 Motions were proposed to amend the changes the CIMM made to C-3. Numbers 1 and 5 were rejected due to being submitted too late in the process. The remaining Motions are:
Motion 2 – Jenny Kwan (NDP, British Columbia, Vancouver East)
Jenny wants to change C-3 back to applying to anyone whose parents spent 3 years in Canada at any point before their birth.
Motion 3 – Joanne Thompson (Liberal Minister of Fisheries, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John’s East)
Joanne also wants to remove the requirement that the 3 years in Canada be within 5 years of birth.
Motion 4 – Jenny Kwan (NDP, British Columbia, Vancouver East)
Jenny wants to remove the new requirements for people between 18 and 55, as well as the security check.
Motion 6 – Jenny Kwan (NDP, British Columbia, Vancouver East)
Same as Motion 2, but applying to adoptions instead of birth.
Motion 7 – Joanne Thompson (Liberal Minister of Fisheries, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John’s East)
Same as Motion 6.
Motion 8 – Jenny Kwan (NDP, British Columbia, Vancouver East)
Same as Motion 4 but applying to adoptions. No additional requirements for people between 18 and 55.
Motion 9 – Jenny Kwan (NDP, British Columbia, Vancouver East)
Jenny wants to remove the new reporting requirements on how many people annually get citizenship from C-3.
Motion 10 – Jenny Kwan (NDP, British Columbia, Vancouver East)
Jenny wants to remove the part that gives the government the ability to create regulations around how long a parent needs to have been in the country.
Motion 11 – Jenny Kwan (NDP, British Columbia, Vancouver East)
Finally Jenny wants to remove the requirement that the government publish reports around how many people have had security assessments waived.
All of these changes have been grouped together for a single vote.
A vote was then held on these changes and passed with 170 in favour and 163 opposed.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 163 | 0 | 1 |
| Conservative | 0 | 141 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| NDP | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 1 | 0 | 0 |
A vote was then held to accept the amended (reverted) version of C-3 and it passed with 169 in favour and 163 opposed.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 163 | 0 | 1 |
| Conservative | 0 | 141 | 1 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| NDP | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | – | – | – |
It looks like Elizabeth May was absent from this vote.
C-3 then went up for its Third Reading and passed with 177 voting in favour and 163 opposed.
| Party | For | Against | Paired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 169 | 0 | 0 |
| Conservative | 0 | 141 | 0 |
| Bloc Quebecois | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| NDP | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| Green | 1 | 0 | 0 |
C-3 is now waiting for Royal Assent.
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