C-274 (45-1) - An Act to amend the Citizenship Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Chamber
commons
Stage
1st Reading
Introduced
Apr 20, 2026
Progress
This bill creates a path to Canadian citizenship for people who aged out of foster care or child welfare without being citizens.
Key Changes
- Creates a new section in the Citizenship Act (section 5.3) allowing former foster care and child welfare youth to apply for citizenship
- Applicants must have been in care for at least 365 cumulative days and lived in Canada for at least 1,095 days (about 3 years)
- A person's own written statement about their time in care is accepted as proof unless the Minister disproves it on a balance of probabilities
- The Minister can waive eligibility requirements on compassionate grounds
- Deportation orders cannot be enforced while a citizenship application under this new path is being reviewed
- Any unenforced deportation order becomes void if the person is granted citizenship under this new provision
Gotchas
- The bill allows a person's own written statement as proof of time spent in care, shifting the burden to the Minister to disprove it — this is a lower evidentiary standard than typical immigration or citizenship processes
- The 10-year residency-outside-Canada limit applies only after age 18, meaning time spent abroad as a child in care does not count against the applicant
- The compassionate waiver gives the Minister broad discretion, which could lead to inconsistent outcomes depending on who holds the office
- The bill does not specify a deadline for the government to process these applications, meaning the deportation stay could last an indefinite period
- People returned to parental custody are generally excluded, but there is an exception if the return happened within one year of turning 18, which could create complex eligibility edge cases
Who's Affected
- Non-citizen youth and adults who were in Canadian foster care, group homes, or child welfare programs
- Immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who entered the child welfare system as minors
- Immigration and Refugee Board and border enforcement agencies
- Provincial child welfare agencies and foster parents (as sources of documentation)
- Immigration lawyers and legal aid organizations
Vibes
0 responses
Gotchas
- The bill allows a person's own written statement as proof of time spent in care, shifting the burden to the Minister to disprove it — this is a lower evidentiary standard than typical immigration or citizenship processes
- The 10-year residency-outside-Canada limit applies only after age 18, meaning time spent abroad as a child in care does not count against the applicant
- The compassionate waiver gives the Minister broad discretion, which could lead to inconsistent outcomes depending on who holds the office
- The bill does not specify a deadline for the government to process these applications, meaning the deportation stay could last an indefinite period
- People returned to parental custody are generally excluded, but there is an exception if the return happened within one year of turning 18, which could create complex eligibility edge cases
Summary
Bill C-274 would allow people who were in foster care, group homes, or child welfare programs in Canada — but were not Canadian citizens at the time — to apply for citizenship after they leave that care system. Right now, some people who grew up in Canada's child welfare system can face deportation as adults because they never obtained citizenship while in care, even though the government was essentially acting as their parent. To qualify, a person must have been in care for at least one year total, must have lived in Canada for at least three years before applying, must not have been returned to their parents when they left care (with some exceptions), and must not have lived outside Canada for more than 10 years since turning 18. The Minister can also waive these requirements for compassionate reasons. The bill also changes immigration law so that someone who applies under this new citizenship path cannot be deported while their application is being decided. If they are granted citizenship, any existing deportation order against them becomes void. The bill was introduced by NDP MP Jenny Kwan.
Automatically generated from bill text using Claude
Vibes
0 responses