{"id":6468,"date":"2024-02-17T07:37:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T12:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cila.co\/?p=6468"},"modified":"2024-02-17T07:37:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T12:37:27","slug":"ontario-court-makes-landmark-ruling-on-canadas-citizenship-act-to-protect-lost-canadians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cila.co\/fr\/ontario-court-makes-landmark-ruling-on-canadas-citizenship-act-to-protect-lost-canadians\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario Court makes landmark ruling on Canada’s Citizenship Act to protect “Lost Canadians”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authored by Ho Sung Kim, Canadian Immigration Lawyer<\/a> and CILA Board Member.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In December 2023, Bjorkquist et al. v. Attorney General of Canada<\/em><\/a> was heard before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.<\/p>\n

Watch CILA’s Feature Presentation on the Implications of Bjorkquist et al.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

In 2008, a \u201csecond-generation cut-off\u201d rule was implemented into Canada’s Citizenship Act<\/em>. At the time, the amendment was criticized because it had an impact on the value of the citizenship status on certain Canadians born abroad, thus creating a second-class citizenship category.<\/p>\n

Section 3(3)(a) of the Citizenship Act<\/em> was challenged constitutionally by a group of Canadian citizens, specifically seven Canadian families, who were affected by this \u201csecond-generation cut-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the applicants in Bjorkquist et al.<\/em> argued that this section violates the Equality, Mobility and Legal Rights (sections 15, 6 and 7 respectively) provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, <\/em>the Ontario Court found that sections 15 and 6 are violated by the current section 3(3)(a) of the Citizenship Act<\/em>, and the violation is not justified under section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Consequently, the Court declared section 3(3)(a) unconstitutional and of no force or effect pursuant to section 52 of the Constitution Act, 1982<\/em>. However, the declaration of invalidity is suspended for a period of six months. The Court has also granted a constitutional exemption to certain applicants from section 3(3)(a) of the Citizenship Act<\/em>, and invited any first generation born abroad Canadian who has a child born abroad between the time the application was heard and the end of 6 month suspension of invalidity of section 3(3)(a) of the Citizenship Act to seek the same constitutional exemption.<\/p>\n

On January 22, 2024, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued a statement that IRCC will not appeal the Court ruling. It is noteworthy that Bill S-245, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (granting citizenship to certain Canadians) <\/em>has been before Parliament since 2022, which will likely modify the substantial connection test to be used to assess the right to Canadian citizenship for second-generation Canadians born abroad.<\/p>\n

Watch CILA’s Feature Presentation on the Implications of Bjorkquist et al.<\/em><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authored by Ho Sung Kim, Canadian Immigration Lawyer and CILA Board Member.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":115,"featured_media":5361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6],"tags":[428,72,430,429,431,432],"class_list":["post-6468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-subject-matter-expertise","category-thought-leadership","tag-bjorkquist-et-al","tag-canadian-citizenship","tag-citizen","tag-citizenship-act","tag-courts","tag-litigation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t