Canada is changing how citizenship passes to children born outside the country. The change is being driven by a court decision, a new law being proposed in Parliament, and government data about people who give up their Canadian citizenship.

The court ruling

In 2023, an Ontario court made a decision that could reshape Canadian citizenship law. The court said that Canada's current rule — which stops parents from passing Canadian citizenship to grandchildren born outside Canada — unfairly violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This rule was put in place in 2009. It meant that if you were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent, you could become a citizen. But your child born outside Canada could not. The court said this was wrong. BBC News reported on the decision in December 2025.

Parliament's response

Before this court decision got widespread attention, Parliament was already working on new legislation. Bill C-71 would change the citizenship law to allow people born outside Canada to pass their citizenship to their own children — and grandchildren — born abroad as well. The bill is still being debated in Parliament, according to IRCC, which handles immigration and citizenship matters. Both the court and Parliament are trying to fix the same problem.

People who give up Canadian citizenship

While the debate focuses on citizenship by descent, government data tells us something else interesting: how many Canadians decide to give up their citizenship altogether. Between 2018 and 2022, IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) processed 1,362 applications to renounce, or give up, Canadian citizenship. They approved 1,262 of them, according to IRCC's official records. That is roughly 250 to 300 people per year who chose to stop being Canadian. Most of these people had already gained citizenship in another country and found that holding two passports created problems — such as tax bills or military obligations — that they wanted to avoid.

It is important to understand the difference between giving up citizenship and losing it. Giving up citizenship — renunciation — is a choice you make. Losing citizenship — revocation — happens when the government takes it away because you lied or hid important facts when you applied, according to IRCC's official briefing documents. Once you give up your citizenship, you cannot get it back.

Out of those 1,362 applications, 93 were refused. These refusals usually happen when someone wants to give up Canadian citizenship but has no other country's passport — which would make them stateless, or a person with no country. Canadian law does not allow that. The fact that most applications were approved shows that this rule is working the way it should.

What happens next

The court ruling, the new bill, and the renunciation numbers all point to the same issue: Canadian citizenship law needs updating. The court has flagged that the one-generation rule does not work. Parliament is proposing a fix. And the numbers show that Canadians actively decide whether to stay Canadian or not — it is not automatic.

The real question now is whether Bill C-71 will pass and how quickly IRCC can handle the change. If the one-generation limit is lifted, the department could face many more applications from people abroad claiming citizenship through their parents. It took years for the system to adjust to past changes in citizenship law. This change will likely be no different.