"Lost Canadians" and citizenship by descent

On December 15, 2025, Bill C-3 was enacted in Canada, removing the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent and offering a path to citizenship for so-called “Lost Canadians”. It looks like there’s no hard limit on how many generations back the Canadian ancestor needs to be, as long as you can document a direct line of descent. Applicants who already have an offer for education or employment, or who are in imminent danger because of their identity (trans in particular) can apply for expedited processing.

There are so many ways in which this is wild. First of all, it means that many Frenchtown descendants could apply for their Canadian citizenship certificate. That and a $700 fee and you can apply for a Canadian passport, demonstrating dual citizenship. Canada does not double tax, so there’s no down side that I can see. The supporting documentation does get quite tricky before the late 19th century, so I really don’t know if it is possible to document a voyageur ancestor in this manner, but the principle seems clear.

Canadian conservatives are busting a gasket over this, they’ll be over-run, the social services system will collapse, yadda yadda yadda. At the same time, I’m thinking about other conservative voices on both sides of the border who are looking at supposed population decline (and expressing a variety of opinions about it, some of which are extraordinarily nasty), and the ways in which Quebec in particular has bolstered numbers with functional paths for legal immigration.

This law may even apply to my family. I do not in fact have any French Canadian ancestry, despite my long study and experience. However, on my mother’s side, there is a Canadian branch — my great great grandfather, Mr. Diogenes Pettet, born in Castleton, Ontario, and my great-grandmother Sarah Gertrude, also born (prematurely) in Castelton while back on a visit. I may or may not have spent most of my waking hours this week hunting for documents. I’ve gotten rather good at it, thanks to years of genealogy work studying Frenchtown.

If you are wanting to know more about this process, this reddit is a helpful place to start, and provides links to all the official documents (check their FAQ). Searching for the information on the open interweb is tricky right now because of the gazillion people, legit and otherwise, who immediately bought official-sounding domain names and are offering to guide you through the process in exchange for a modest fee or three.

The application itself (not counting any legal assistance you seek or documents you may need to pay to acquire, for example ordering copies of certificates and so forth) is only $75 per person.

There are so many ways in which this is wild.

©Sarah Hurlburt, on behalf of the Frenchtown Historical Foundation