TORONTO -- When Kat Lanteigne鈥檚 adopted son grows up and wants to have children of his own, they won鈥檛 automatically inherit his Canadian citizenship if they are born abroad.
The Toronto-area mother and her husband Graeme Ball, both Canadian citizens, adopted their son Nathanael when he was 15 months old from Zambia in 2017. They chose to apply for a direct grant of citizenship for him, as opposed to sponsoring him as a permanent resident and going through the long process of becoming a citizen through naturalization. Because of this decision, Nathaniel can鈥檛 pass on his citizenship to his own children if they are born outside of Canada.
鈥淗e is a Canadian citizen. He was granted his citizenship,鈥� Lanteigne told CTVNews.ca during a telephone interview in January. 鈥淲hy is our son and other children like him considered not to have that right?鈥�
The provision that Lanteigne is referring to was added to Canada鈥檚 citizenship law by the federal government under Stephen Harper in 2009. prevents foreign-born children from passing on their Canadian citizenship to their own offspring if they, too, are born abroad.
It also bars these Canadian foreign-born citizens from applying for a direct citizenship grant for their own children if they, too, are adopted or born abroad.
There are currently two routes to citizenship for foreign-born children who are adopted by Canadian parents.
In the first route, children can become citizens through a direct grant before immigrating to Canada. The second route is through a regular citizenship grant, often called naturalization, where adoptive parents sponsor their child to immigrate to Canada as a permanent resident before they apply to become a citizen later in life.
The first-generation limit that prevents adopted children, like Nathanael, from passing on their citizenship to their own children if they are born abroad only applies to those who attain citizenship through the first route.
The only exception to the law is for the children or grandchildren of Crown servants, such as government workers or those in the military, who were born naturally or adopted abroad and would automatically inherit Canadian citizenship.
Adopted children who are sponsored first as permanent residents before they鈥檙e naturalized, on the other hand, can pass on their Canadian citizenship regardless of where their children are born.
For adoptive parents such as Lanteigne, this distinction creates a 鈥渟ubstandard class鈥� of Canadian citizens.
鈥淚t鈥檚 extremely disappointing,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 disappointing that our government would create a vulnerability for a particular group of people based on their vulnerability, which is that they were a child in need of adoption.鈥�
Even though Lanteigne said she and her husband were aware of the first-generation limit before they adopted their son, they didn鈥檛 want to risk having him fly to Canada as a stateless citizen. Zambia, like many countries, did not recognize dual citizenship at the time of Nathaniel鈥檚 adoption.
鈥淵ou have to make the choice as to whether you鈥檙e going to apply for the direct route or you鈥檙e going to apply for the naturalized route,鈥� Lanteigne said. 鈥淲e did not want to travel internationally or even have our son live his younger life without being a fully realized citizen.鈥�
Because of that decision, Lanteigne said her son will face future barriers in life that other Canadian citizens won鈥檛 encounter.
Limiting 鈥榠ndefinite citizenship鈥�
Beatrice Fenelon, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), said the first-generation limit 鈥渞eplaced complex requirements鈥� with a 鈥渕ore clear and transparent rule.鈥�
Before it was introduced, she said those born abroad to a Canadian parent in the second and subsequent generations had to meet 鈥渃ertain conditions鈥� and take steps to maintain their citizenship. If they failed to take those steps, they lost their citizenship 鈥渙ften without realizing it,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he first-generation limit is applied equally to the children of Canadians born abroad, whether the child is naturally born or adopted, in order to ensure consistency in the application of the rule,鈥� Fenelon explained.
Nastaran Roushan, an immigration lawyer based in Toronto, said the government introduced the amendment in order to limit 鈥渋ndefinite citizenship.鈥�
鈥淭his feeds into, whether you believe in it or not, the rhetoric that citizenship is a right and it should be limited as a right to those who are actual Canadians,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o somewhere along the line, they believe that people are not Canadians any longer because they have enough of a disconnect from the country and therefore they shouldn鈥檛 be able to pass on that citizenship to somebody else.鈥�
Roushan acknowledged that in some cases the limitation makes sense, such as when a Canadian and their children spend most of their lives abroad.
However, she suspects the government didn鈥檛 consider that in certain cases it puts individuals in precarious situations where they鈥檙e living in a country without status.
鈥淚t鈥檚 arbitrary,鈥� she said.
The immigration lawyer said it鈥檚 arbitrary because there are other ways of ensuring people don鈥檛 have indefinite citizenship without forcing certain individuals to choose between being potentially stateless and not being able to pass on their citizenship by descent.
Roushan said that some people justify the statelessness issue by pointing to that allows individuals in certain cases to obtain citizenship. However, she said that is only available to those who applied for citizenship before they were 23 years old and they have already been in Canada for 1,095 days.
鈥楤eing ignored鈥�
Another Toronto-area mother, who wished to remain anonymous to protect the identity of her adopted son, shares Lanteigne鈥檚 concern about the first-generation limit in Canada鈥檚 citizenship law.
When she was in the process of adopting her young son from Ethiopia in 2008 she knew the amendment to limit citizenship by descent would be coming into effect in April 2009.
鈥淚t was a difficult situation to be in because I had to just cross my fingers that it would be done in time, that my adoption process would be completed in Ethiopia,鈥� she said.
Like Lanteigne, the mother wanted her son to hold Canadian citizenship before he travelled.
She said she had her final successful court date in early 2009 along with all of her completed paperwork, but her adoption documents weren鈥檛 processed by the Canadian government until two weeks after the new law came into effect.
Because they missed the deadline, she said her son, who is now 12 years old, will not be able to pass on his citizenship to his own children if they鈥檙e born abroad.
鈥淚 have discussed with him that he is a second-class citizen, that he does not have the same rights as other children,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou can imagine that鈥檚 not an easy conversation to have as a parent or as a child. It鈥檚 not a good feeling.鈥�
Lanteigne said she and her husband have been trying to have the law overturned for the past five years. In 2015, she put forth a petition with signatures from other adoptive families and supporters calling for the provision to be removed from Canada鈥檚 citizenship law, but it was rejected.
Every time she contacts politicians about the law, Lanteigne said she鈥檚 told the government has been updating immigration regulations for a long time with no explanation as to why this particular one is being kept in place.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a constant frustration because it goes on for so long, because the [immigration] minister鈥檚 office and this current administration, basically, refuses to engage,鈥� Lanteigne said. 鈥淭he sad thing about this is this is actually a really minor amendment. It doesn鈥檛 take a lot of legislative time.
鈥淲e are here and totally being ignored.鈥�
