By John Richardson, J.D. – Toronto, Canada – August 9, 2026
I have organized this post into the following Parts:
Introduction – Explaining the purpose
Part A – Canada’s citizenship by descent law from December 15, 2025 – What the law says
Part B – Understanding the language of Bill C-3 Canada’s citizenship by descent rules
Part C – Parsing the language of Bill C-3: How the legislation compels these conclusions
Part D – A Review: What is the legislative source of these conclusions? How does one get there? – The Text of relevant parts of Bill C-3
Part E – In Summary
Appendix A – Canada Citizenship Act
Appendix B – Canada Justice Minister – Explanation of Bill C-3
Appendix C – Bill C-3 Backgrounder
Appendix D – How To Apply For A Certificate Of Canadian Citizenship
Appendix E – Legislative Summary Of Bill C-3
Appendix F – The Complete Text Of Section 3 Of the Canada Citzenship Act
Introduction – Explaining the purpose
The purpose of this post is narrow. It is to explain how the new “citizenship by descent rules” follow from the text of Section 3(1) of The Canada Citizenship Act.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-29/page-1.html#docCont
Bill C-3 – Canada’s new citizenship law – Effective December 15, 2025
I am going to be honest. I find it very difficult to read the Canada Citizenship Act and make sense of it. I understand what the commentators say that it says. That’s great. But I feel more comfortable if I can understand the legislation, parse the legislation and understand how the sections fit together.
Bottom line: If somebody asks you:
Q. Where in the Canada Citizenship Act does it specifically say that, if a child is born outside of Canada, after December 14, 2025, to a parent who was a Canadian citizen and that Canadian citizen parent was also born outside of Canada, then that parent is required to have 1095 days of physical presence in Canada prior to the child’s birth in order to transmit citizenship to the child?
A. Well, you better be able to provide an answer.