Ontario court strikes down Canada's citizenship-by-descent limit as unconstitutional

An Ontario court ruled in 2023 that a 2009 law restricting citizenship by descent to the first generation born abroad breached the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision bars the statutory provision that cut off transmission of Canadian citizenship to second-generation Canadians born outside the country. Parliament is now advancing Bill C-71 to extend citizenship by descent beyond the first generation, moving on parallel judicial and legislative tracks to resolve the same constitutional gap.