Claiming Canadian Citizenship through great-great-grandparent?

[misslulu]

Hi everyone,

I was born in California to an American and a Mexican parent in 1988. Through my American parent they had a great grandparent who was born in Quebec in 1868 and never relinquished their citizenship. They passed away in 1944, and their child (my great grandparent) also passed that year. Would it still be possible to claim Canadian citizenship through the C-3 route or would I be ineligible? I have already located the great-great-grandparent's birth certificate confirming they were born in Quebec but still need to locate the birth certificate of my grandparent and great grandparent. Any help is appreciated! Thank you.

 

[hawk39]

I would recommend that you consult with a citizenship lawyer, but from I've gathered is that if a second-generation born abroad born before January 1, 1947 was not made a citizen by the 1947 Act, then they are not covered by C-3 because the specific sections [(3)(1)(o) through (r)] in the current Citizenship Act that give citizenship for those born abroad not covered under the 1947 Act either, under (o) and (p), do not extend to the second generation, or, under (q) and (r), require the second generation to have become citizens as prescribed under the 1947 and 1949 Acts. Since these sections are still in the current Citizenship Act as amended by C-3, they are still in force.

My intuition is telling me that you, your parent, and grandparent are not eligible, but I'm not a lawyer, so I reiterate that you should consult with a citizenship lawyer about your specific case.

 

[CanadaStrong2119]

I

Hi everyone,

I was born in California to an American and a Mexican parent in 1988. Through my American parent they had a great grandparent who was born in Quebec in 1868 and never relinquished their citizenship. They passed away in 1944, and their child (my great grandparent) also passed that year. Would it still be possible to claim Canadian citizenship through the C-3 route or would I be ineligible? I have already located the great-great-grandparent's birth certificate confirming they were born in Quebec but still need to locate the birth certificate of my grandparent and great grandparent. Any help is appreciated! Thank you.

Hello,

I am a Second-Generation Born-Abroad Canadian (my grandfather was Canadian), and I just spoke to a Canadian citizenship attorney the other day, under a formal paid consultation.

He advised me that even though there have been various laws over the years and a variety of changes to those laws, the most recent update to the Citizenship Act clarifies the following:
1. If you have an ancestor born on Canadian soil, that ancestor is retroactively granted Canadian citizenship, PERIOD;
2. All descendants of that person are also now automatically Canadian citizens, as long as they were born before December 2025.

BUT WITH THE FOLLOWING CAVEATS:
1. Your connection to that ancestor must be biological all the way through your family tree to that person (i.e. you must be the biological descendant; adoptions anywhere along the way do not count);
2. None of those ancestors have renounced their Canadian citizenship;
3. You must provide your birth certificate as well as all of your ancestors' birth certificates going back to and including that ancestor, proving the ancestor was Canadian and proving biological connection to that ancestor.

Based on what you stated, you most likely ARE a Canadian citizen, but you will need to contact Quebec to see if they have a copy of the Birth Certificate; if you can get that, then you can begin the process of filling out the proper forms and receiving your Citizenship Certificate.

Good luck!

 

[CanadaStrong2119]

The other thing I want to mention to the OP, is that, as stated above, in order to claim your citizenship, you have to provide the Birth Certificate of your ancestor who was born in Quebec.

The challenge here for you though, is that Birth Certificates did not exist in the 1860's.

Instead, births were recorded by Baptism records in the local Catholic Church.

So you will need to locate the parish in which your ancestor was born, and see if there is some form of baptism record.

The Government of Canada recognizes those for the pruposes of confirming citizenship.

There are allegedly some online resources for this, but I do not know what they would be.