Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 - Creation of Canadian Citizenship, January 1947

Creation of Canadian Citizenship, January 1947

Canadian citizenship, as a status separate from British nationality, was created by the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1946, which came into effect on 1 January 1947.

Canadian citizenship was generally conferred immediately on the following persons:

• a British subject who was born in Canada (and had not become an alien before 1947)
• a person other than a natural-born Canadian citizen:
  • who was granted, or whose name was included in, a certificate of naturalization under any act of the Parliament of Canada and had not become an alien at the commencement of the Act, or
  • who was a British subject who had acquired Canadian domicile (i.e., five years' residence in Canada as a landed immigrant) before 1947
• a British subject who lived in Canada for 20 years immediately before 1947 and was not, on 1 January 1947, under order of deportation
• women who were married to a Canadian before 1947 and who entered Canada as a landed immigrant before 1947
• children born outside Canada to a Canadian father (or mother, if born out of wedlock) before 1947

In the latter two cases, a "Canadian" was a British subject who would have been considered a Canadian citizen if the 1947 Act had come into force immediately before the marriage or birth (as the case may be).

Where the child born outside Canada was not a minor (i.e., was not under 21 years in age) at the time the Act came into force, proof of landed immigrant status was required to confirm Canadian citizenship.