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www.lawtimesnews.com Law TiMes / March 10, 2008 Page 13 A legislative issue affecting potentially thousands of "lost Canadians" will likely soon be resolved, but some say a new bill that will ultimately award them citizenship could also create problems for certain members of future generations. Bill C-37, introduced in December and passed by the House of Commons last month, addresses the issue of those who believed they were citizens but either lost their citizenship or were not Canadians because of provisions included in the 1947 Citizenship Act. Included in this group are people who: were naturalized to Canada and • then lived outside the country for more than 10 years before 1967; were born abroad to a Canadian • parent before the current Citizenship Act came into effect on Feb.15, 1977; lost their citizenship between • January 1947 and February 1977 because they or their par- ent acquired the nationality or citizenship of another country; are second- and subsequent- • generation Canadians born abroad since the current Citizenship Act came into effect on Feb. 15, 1977. The bill creates several new definitions of who is a citizen and will be applied retroactively. It will apply to those who have lost citizenship for any reason other than they renounced it or it was revoked, or those who are a sec- ond- or later-generation Canadians born abroad since Feb.15, 1977 and lost citizenship because they failed to retain it by age 28. Other people who can now obtain citizenship include those born abroad before Feb.15, 1977 to a Canadian parent but never became citizens. "We are proposing a broad and generous legislative solution that will eliminate complex bureaucrat- ic processes and give people the citizenship status they deserve," Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley commented when the bill was introduced. According to the govern- ment's summary of the bill, while the problem has been around for decades, it became more prominent when the U.S. tightened its border security in 2001 and more Canadians began to apply for passports, which "uncovered a number of cases of loss of citizenship." Lost Canadian Joe Taylor, who recently received his citizenship through a special grant by the cabinet, also drew attention to the issue when he took his case to the Federal Court in 2006. Stephen Green, a lawyer with Green & Spiegel Law Corp. in Toronto, says that the bill could affect thousands of people who had lost their citizenship as a result of acquiring U.S. citizenship prior to 1977. "Now you're getting that back automatically, which is a great thing," he says. According to a spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, it is unknown how many people the legislation will affect, but their best estimate is that 18,000 people will become citizens as a result of bill C-37, although they note it could be more or less than this number. However, while the bill has addressed the majority of peo- ple affected under the former act, the new legislation excludes Canadians from passing down citizenship to any children born abroad after one generation — effective for those born after it comes into effect — which some note could create more lost Canadians who could potentially become stateless individuals. In comments to the stand- ing committee on citizenship and immigration on the bill, the Canadian Council of Refugees noted: "Children born abroad in the second generation to Canadian citizen parents will not be entitled to Canadian citizenship at birth. If these children are not entitled to some other citizenship, they will be stateless." Last December, Jim Karygiannis, MP for Scarborough-Agincourt, noted, "While bill C-37 seems to correct the problems of the past, it will create a new generation of lost Canadians. "The government is disallow- ing second-generation Canadians born abroad to claim their birth- right," he added. "A disturbing thing under the new bill is that it precludes Canadians from passing down citizenship to their offspring born abroad after one genera- tion, which is pretty amazing — a huge change in Canadian philosophy. It used to be, once a Canadian, always a Canadian. Not anymore," says Green. According to the government's summary of the bill: "Cutting off citizenship by descent after the first generation of Canadians born abroad . . . will result in some off- spring of Canadians born abroad in the future being stateless. Bill C-37 provides limited relief for some of these people." In the new legislation, a man- datory grant of citizenship is pro- vided to a person who was born outside Canada to a parent who was Canadian at the time of the person's birth if, at the time the person applies for Canadian citi- zenship, the person: • is less than 23 years old; • has lived in Canada for at least three years during the four years immediately before the date of the citizenship application; • has always been stateless; • has not been convicted of various listed national security offences. In terms of those "lost Canadians" previously affected, Green says the new legislation cov- ers most of them, but those who run into difficulty could always use s. 5(4), which was being applied to stateless lost Canadians before bill C-37. "Before bill C-37 came out, they were trying to fix all these people through s. 5 (4), which is basically a request to cabinet to change it, so there is that authority there to . . . the stateless people if they're just in getting it," he says. "This legislation will deal with 95 per cent of those people who either lost their citizenship and shouldn't have, or who never had it in the first place but should have," said Finley. "The rest we will be able to handle on a case- by-case basis as we have done all this year." Toronto immigration lawyer Robin Seligman says the legisla- tion is something very positive, as the government is trying to make sure these people are able to get the status back they didn't even know they had lost. The way this had been dealt with before was on a case-by- case basis, including 100 cases resolved in 2007 through spe- cial grant; however, the legisla- tion makes it more certain for people, says Seligman, instead of having to wait for the discre- tion of an officer. New definitions of who is a citizen Bill could affect thousands of 'lost Canadians' FOCUS We offer the widest selection of Corporate Supplies Minute Books, Corporate Seals, Share Certificates, Name Plates, Signs, Stamps and more. 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