Canada Has Completely Changed The Rules On Who Can Automatically Become A Citizen
Some people are born citizens, some become citizens, and some have citizenship thrust upon them. For that last group, a Canadian citizenship change is making new rules about who can automatically gain legal Canuck status. Now, the interpretation of who a parent is has shifted completely and it's a game changer for same-sex couples and more.
On July 9, Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced a change in the Citizenship Act.
Under the act, the interpretation of who is a parent is different than it used to be.
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That means non-biological parents who are Canadian and a child's legal parent at birth can pass their official canuck status onto that child if they're born abroad.
Before this, a child born outside of the country was recognized as a citizen at birth if there was a genetic link to the parent from the True North.
It also applied if the child was born abroad to a Canadian parent in the first generation.
Marco Mendicino, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said that with the change, "non-biological legal parents at birth and biological parents are now viewed equally as a child's parent for the purposes of citizenship by descent."
The minister also acknowledged this change will help people like members of the LGBTQ+ community and those with fertility issues who have children through other ways than giving birth themselves.
This all happened because a family advocated for change and went through the court system to get an actual solution to what was going on.
The Caron/van der Ven family wanted a change to the rule that didn't allow some children to automatically get Canadian citizenship at birth.
"We are extremely happy and relieved that the court corrected this discriminating policy," said the family in a news release.
Canada has one of the best passports in the world and it's been ranked as such for the last 14 years in a row.
You can take an online citizenship challenge and test your knowledge about all things Canada.
Most people don't pass the challenge though.