Canada Reviews Citizenship Certificates for Thousands Granted Under Expanded Bill C-3

The Canadian government has begun reviewing citizenship certificates issued to thousands of individuals under Bill C-3, a law that took effect in December 2025 and expanded access to Canadian citizenship by descent. Notices sent by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) on June 13, 2026, informed recipients that their files may lack sufficient proof of family ties and ordered them to surrender paper certificates while applications are re-examined. The move affects people who obtained citizenship under the law, which was designed to address long-standing issues affecting so-called "Lost Canadians" and their descendants by allowing people born abroad to claim citizenship through Canadian ancestors beyond the first generation.

The government has emphasized that the reviews are not revocations but rather a re-examination to ensure certificates were properly issued based on evidence required by law. According to letters obtained by media outlets, applications were flagged primarily for two reasons: supporting documents were not obtained directly from official record-holding authorities, or applicants failed to demonstrate attempts to obtain official records. IRCC stated that individuals seeking citizenship through a Canadian ancestor must establish an unbroken chain of parent-child relationships through each generation and provide solid evidence to support their claims. Affected individuals are being given the opportunity to provide additional documentation before final decisions are made.

The reviews have created significant uncertainty among some newly recognized citizens who had already begun making major life decisions. One example is Valerie Campbell of Maine, who told the CBC she had put her home up for sale and was preparing to relocate to Canada after receiving her citizenship certificate earlier in 2026. She received the review notice without warning and has since scrambled to gather additional documentation. Immigration lawyers have noted that suspending citizenship certificates after they have already been issued is unusual, particularly at such a large scale.

Some applicants reportedly relied on genealogy websites such as Ancestry or FamilySearch, or submitted archival records rather than documents from provincial vital statistics offices or civil registries. Others were unable to locate records but did not include documentation demonstrating they had attempted to obtain them. IRCC stated that having Canadian ancestry does not automatically guarantee entitlement to citizenship and that the reviews represent a necessary safeguard to protect the value of Canadian citizenship. Electronic certificates do not need to be surrendered, only paper certificates are affected during the review process.