Canadian immigration lawyers say they are in “disbelief” over how the federal government has dealt with a wave of citizenship certificate suspensions involving so-called “Lost Canadians,” and the lack of answers about why the recalls occurred.
“We certainly think that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) could have handled this better,” said Barbara Jo Caruso, a member of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association.
“It creates a lot of uncertainty and anxiety for the individuals concerned. Uncertainty also leads to a lack of trust in the system.”
Earlier this month, the immigration department began sending letters to an unknown number of people ordering them to surrender recently issued Canadian citizenship certificates.
IRCC will only say a “few dozen” are affected.
One of those individuals is American Tom Maher.
“Playing fast and loose with citizenship rules is not the sort of thing I imagined from IRCC,” he told Global News.
Maher has an ancestor from Quebec and applied for Canadian citizenship under legislation passed last year. He also prepared applications for his mother and sibling.
The law allows people living abroad who can trace their lineage to a Canadian to qualify for citizenship.
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The bill was tabled after an Ontario court ruling found the previous “first-generation limit” on citizenship by descent was unconstitutional.
“The main motivation for me doing this is I have a younger sibling who is trans,” said Maher.
‘Lost Canadian, then found’
Maher and his two family members received their citizenship certificates in April.
But last week, Maher was emailed a suspension letter. Days later, the department reversed course again, informing him his certificate had been revalidated.
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“The whole thing’s been a bit of a roller-coaster,” he said.
“I have no problem providing exhaustive proof. I have no problem being investigated, but once a decision has been made it seems to me there should be some consistency.”
After receiving his surrender letter, Maher consulted Montreal immigration lawyer Lisa Middlemiss who told Global News he provided a “well-documented chain of lineage.”
Middlemiss added she has never seen anything like these recalls and is shocked and in disbelief the department would repeatedly “flip-flop” on such an important document.
“It’s highly disruptive. People have either moved their lives to Canada or are in the midst of selling their homes,” said Middlemiss.
“How is it possible that the immigration minister does not know or cannot state exactly what happened?”
Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Tuesday she ordered a review after “something” was brought to her attention, but wouldn’t say what that “something” was.
Asked Thursday whether affected individuals deserve a timely explanation, Prime Minister Mark Carney responded, “The simple answer is yes,” pledging to follow up.
IRCC has since paused approvals for new citizenship-by-descent applications while it reviews the process.
More than 82,000 applications are currently backlogged, with processing times of at least 15 months, according to the department’s website.
Caruso called the confusion “unfortunate” adding it raises questions about how prepared the department was for the legislative change.
“Thei initial guidelines on acceptable documentation should have been clearer, and more or better training of officers and staff would likely have mitigated this situation,” she said.
Middlemiss said the government needs to provide answers.
“How many of these letters were sent? Why?” she asked.
“It would be nice to know before Canada Day, quite frankly.”
Worth updating, because most of the questions the lawyers ask here were
eventually answered, and the numbers in the piece have moved a long way.
On what happened: around 100 certificates were flagged, 33 were reinstated on
the evidence already in the file, and 67 remained under review — roughly 1 per
cent of the certificates issued under the new law. IRCC subsequently
acknowledged that its own guidance had been unclear, to its officers as much
as to applicants. That’s the answer to Barbara Jo Caruso’s point about
departmental preparedness, and it substantially vindicates it: the problem was
the instructions, not the applicants. Eligibility under the legislation never
changed.
What did change is the evidentiary bar. IRCC now expects corroborating records
from credible sources beyond its stated minimums, the original archival source
cited rather than a genealogy-site printout of it, and where an original
genuinely cannot be obtained, a documented account of each step taken and why
it failed. Lisa Middlemiss’s description of a “well-documented chain of
lineage” is now closer to the floor than the ceiling.
The backlog figures here are the most out of date part. The article cites more
than 82,000 applications and processing of at least 15 months. As of 3
September 2026 the published processing time for proof of citizenship reached
33 months, an eight-month jump in a single month, with over 136,000
applications in the queue. In the ten weeks since this piece ran, the wait more
than doubled and the queue grew by over 50,000.
Which makes one omission worth filling for anyone in Tom Maher’s position.
Urgent processing exists and almost nobody uses it. Nine grounds qualify: a
job with a confirmed start date, a job at risk, admission to a school, death or
serious illness in the family, a deadline to renounce another citizenship,
relocating a minor child, access to a pension, healthcare or social insurance,
statelessness, and persecution. Dual citizens with proof of air travel to
Canada within six months have a separate route. You submit a letter explaining
the need with dated evidence. For the people Middlemiss describes as mid-way
through selling their homes, that’s the request to make.
Sorry guys, I withdraw everything I said in the comments below. I’m just a stupid liberal and I have no idea what I’m even saying.
this must be a joke,I mean asking the liberal goverment to answer a question,or to explian themselves,what a dreamer.
Excellently researched article. Many conservatives don’t know that housing, and rentals, are under provincial jurisdiction. I digress though. Ask yourselves which age cohort is governing, and which age cohort elected them? The world is left in a mess to younger generations.
The Carney government is trying to fix an unconstitutional law passed by the Harper/Poilievre government. Sad, but typical, that conservatives are blaming the problem on the liberals. No shame!
The incompetent Liberals you wanted them and you got them.
Thats because it was negligence and the incompetent Liberals are hiding it.
“”””“The main motivation for me doing this is I have a younger sibling who is trans,” said Maher.”””” So……is there enough money in YOUR coffers to support YOUR sibling’s lifestyle choice so as to NOT be a burden on the Canadian taxpayer?
No real news to report or just too lazy
” How is it that the immigration Minister cannot state or does not know what happened?”
Have you been asleep for the last decade?
Have you been following what the Liberal government has done to this country in that time frame?
I wonder how long it’s going to take the people that keep voting for this “government” to realize that they don’t care about us.