SOCI – Senate Public Bill S-245: An Act to amend the Citizenship Act – December 5, 2024

Key Facts and Figures

Prior to the introduction of Bill C-71, the Government of Canada had been working closely with Members of Parliament on Bill S-245, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (granting citizenship to certain Canadians).
Bill S-245 was originally scheduled to be considered at Report Stage in the House of Commons on October 19, 2023. However, since that time, it has been repeatedly traded down on the Order of Precedence and is still awaiting consideration at Report Stage.

Bill S-245, as amended, restores citizenship to those who lost it as a result of the former Section 8 of the 1977 Citizenship Act, often referred to as “Lost Canadians,” and allows for the passage of citizenship by descent beyond the first generation to those born after April 16, 2009, to a Canadian parent who is able to demonstrate a substantial connection to Canada in the form of a cumulative 1095 days of physical presence prior to the birth of the child, with a similar scheme for access to the direct grant of citizenship for those born abroad and adopted by a Canadian.
Bill C-71 considers the work the House of Commons and Senate have done with Bill S-245 and addresses the issues raised there and by the Court in the Bjorkquist litigation more comprehensively.
Unlike Bill C-71, Bill S-245 does not address or extend access to citizenship by descent to the descendants of remedied “Lost Canadians” born beyond the first generation prior to April 17, 2009, which is when the first generation limit was introduced.

Under Bill C-71 but not under Bill S-245, anyone born abroad to a Canadian citizen parent prior to the coming into force of the legislation, irrespective of the generation, will become an automatic citizen by descent retroactive to their date of birth.
This will capture the descendants of previously remedied “Lost Canadians.”