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A passenger readies his Canadian passport before boarding a flight to the U.S. CBC has found that more than 200,000 people are at risk of losing their citizenship � and denied passports � because of out-of-date laws. (Tom Hanson/Canadian Press) In Depth
Lost Canadians

CBC investigation
Ottawa says there are 450 cases of 'Lost Canadians,' but a CBC News probe has found that more than 200,000 people may be at risk of losing their citizenship.
Last Updated March 2007
CBC News
Citizenship is something most Canadians take for granted � and it is arguably the most important right a nation can confer. But for thousands of people, many of them born in Canada, or born to Canadian parents � citizenship has become an elusive goal.

Although the federal government says it is aware of about 450 cases of people who have lost their citizenship, a CBC News investigation found there could be more than 200,000 people living in Canada who could potentially lose their citizenship, under sections of the 1947 Citizenship Act that are unknown to most people.

Origin of the story
CBC's Lost Canadians investigation is the result of research conducted over a period of three years. It began when reporter Gary Symons learned of a Kelowna, B.C., woman who had been stripped of her citizenship, despite having Canadian parents. The original series of stories concerned people who lost their rights to be called Canadian because their fathers took out citizenship in another country. CBC's work led Parliament to pass an amendment to the Citizenship Act in May 2005 that allowed people in that situation to regain their Canadian status more quickly. However, since then, CBC News has learned that there were far more Lost Canadians impacted by other sections of the act. CBC's estimate of the current numbers of Canadians at risk of losing their citizenship comes from an analysis of Canadian and U.S. public-use microdata files. Barry Edmonston, a demographer and population specialist at the University of Victoria, crunched census data from 2001 and 1996, as well as immigration and migration patterns.

The categories of interest CBC has identified mirror those used by the Citizenship and Immigration Department. This is the first time a Canadian media company has investigated the true potential of the number of Canadians at risk of losing their citizenship. The CBC estimates this number to be around 200,000. However, the government has told CBC that immigration officials have never conducted such an analysis. The citizenship and immigration minister says there are 450 lost Canadians.

Audio: CBC's interview with the demographer who conducted the research: March 8, 2007 (runs: 1:5
The problem has become aggravated over the past few years because of a new United States law. The U.S. now requires passports for everyone entering the country by air, causing millions of Canadians to apply for a passport. For some, instead of a passport in the mail, they're receiving a letter saying they are not Canadian.

Others discover they are not Canadian citizens when they reach the age to apply for Old Age Security.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/lostcanadians/