CIMM – Opening Statement – October 2, 2025

Honourable Lena Metlege Diab, ECNS, KC, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship
Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration Bill C-3: An Act to amend the Citizenship Act
October 2, 2025
488 words (~ 5 minutes)

Thank you, Chair and members of the committee.

I acknowledge that we’re meeting on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People.

Bill C-3 faces a firm deadline. The Ontario Superior Court’s suspension of the first-generation limit will expire on November 20, after several extensions. Unless Parliament acts, citizenship by descent will have no limit for many, and Lost Canadians will remain in limbo. That is why I urge the committee to move this legislation forward quickly.

Bill C-3 has two main objectives: it confers citizenship on those impacted by the first-generation limit, including the remaining Lost Canadians, and it provides fair access to citizenship by descent going forward.

In future cases where the Canadian parent was born or adopted abroad, their child born or adopted abroad can access citizenship as long as the parent has a substantial connection to Canada.

If the parent has spent at least three years in Canada before the child’s birth or adoption, their child will be a Canadian citizen or have access to the direct grant of citizenship for adoptions.

We chose this approach because it is similar to the 1,095‑day physical‑presence requirement for naturalization. It also avoids creating new “Lost Canadians”—if we required those days to be consecutive or squeezed into a fixed window, we would shut out people who have already spent more than three years here but over several periods—like children who move abroad with their parents every couple of years.

We’ve heard concerns that Bill C-3 could mean hundreds of thousands of new citizens, which could put pressure on social services.

We can’t give a precise forecast because Canada has not tracked births abroad since 1977, and uptake depends on future personal choices—where Canadians have children, how many they have and whether they seek proof of citizenship.

What we do know is that between January 2024 and July 2025, we received just over 4,200 applications for discretionary grants of citizenship under the interim measure for those affected by the first‑generation limit. Previous amendments in 2009 and 2015 saw around 20,000 people apply for proof of citizenship, with fewer than 2,400 applications in the busiest year.

Based on that evidence, we anticipate volumes in the tens of thousands over time—not hundreds of thousands—and no surge. Net fiscal impacts are expected to be limited: some in this cohort are already here contributing to general revenues, and those abroad are generally not eligible for most Canadian social programs.

We’ve also heard suggestions that the bill should impose security checks on people who become recognized as Canadian under Bill C-3, a cohort I should note are largely low-risk children.

Citizenship by descent has never required security or criminality screening, and Bill C-3—consistent with the 2009 and 2015 amendments—keeps it that way.

Bill C-3 reflects both the value of Canadian citizenship and the reality of how Canadian families live today.

I welcome the committee’s questions.