Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Canadian citizenship certificate requests have surged, driven by Americans tracing family roots. The backlog now exceeds 121,800 applications.
Citizenship requests climb sharply
Demand for Canadian citizenship certificates is soaring. Meanwhile, the processing queue has grown to more than 121,800 applications.
A large share of the new demand is coming from the United States. In fact, Americans made up almost half of the people who gained citizenship through recent rule changes.
The surge follows Bill C-3, which took effect in December. The law expanded citizenship rights for people who can prove a direct family link to a Canadian ancestor.
As a result, people with Canadian roots several generations back can now seek recognition as citizens in cases where they could not before.
More than 23,000 people gain citizenship
From mid-December to May 31, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issued about 6,100 certificates to people who qualified under Bill C-3.
That figure was already up sharply from the 4,075 certificates issued between mid-December and March 31.
At the same time, another 17,390 people received certificates because they had a Canadian parent.
Together, those figures represent 23,490 newly recognized Canadian citizens.
The certificates can then open the door to a Canadian passport. They can also allow eligible citizens to live and work in Canada.
However, citizenship does not automatically mean a person can vote in a federal election. Elections Canada says citizens must have lived in Canada at some point in their lives to vote federally.
Americans lead the new wave
People born in the United States are driving much of the growth.
According to IRCC figures, 3,110 Americans qualified through Bill C-3 between mid-December and the end of May.
In addition, 8,125 Americans received certificates because one of their parents was born in Canada.
So, the American share of the new citizenship wave is substantial.
However, these numbers may be only the beginning.
Application backlog more than doubles
The number of pending citizenship certificate applications has jumped at an even faster pace.
In April, about 56,000 applications were waiting for a decision. By May, that number had climbed to roughly 70,400.
Now, IRCC reports a backlog of about 121,800 applications.
The queue includes many types of requests. Some applicants are seeking citizenship under Bill C-3. Others may simply need a replacement certificate after losing one.
Meanwhile, the wait has also grown.
In May, the estimated processing time was about 12 months. By Aug. 10, it had reached 25 months.
A century of migration is now coming into focus
The potential number of new Canadian citizens is hard to pin down.
The reason is simple. Canadian migration to the United States goes back generations.
During the 1800s and 1900s, hundreds of thousands of Canadians, particularly people from Quebec, crossed the border for work.
Now, their descendants may be able to reconnect with Canada through the new citizenship rules.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated that about 115,000 people could be affected by the change.
That estimate may help explain why demand has grown so quickly.
Archives face their own citizenship rush
The surge is not limited to IRCC.
Across Canada, archivists are also dealing with a sharp rise in requests for old family records.
Applicants often need documents that prove an unbroken family connection to a Canadian ancestor.
Those records can be very old. Some date back hundreds of years. Others sit in small church archives or collections created before Confederation.
Alyssa Hyduk, president of the Association of Canadian Archivists, says some institutions have seen requests rise by 100 to 300 per cent.
The work can also be painstaking.
Archivists may have to search boxes of paper records. They may also need to scan reels of microfilm for a single name.
And, unlike modern digital files, many of these records cannot simply be searched with a keyboard.
Archives call for more support
The growing workload is also putting pressure on archive staff.
Mab Coates-Davies, the association’s executive director, says these requests often carry a strong personal and emotional element because they involve family history and future plans.
At the same time, archivists must continue serving other researchers and members of the public.
The association is therefore calling for more funding to help archives handle the new demand.
That request comes as small and medium-sized archives face the loss of a major source of support. Library and Archives Canada recently ended its $1.5-million-a-year Documentary Heritage Communities program.
So, the timing has raised concerns. Funding support has fallen just as requests for historical records have surged.
More archive requests could be coming
There may also be another wave ahead.
In June, IRCC suspended about 100 citizenship certificates after concerns emerged about documents submitted with some applications.
Since then, 83 suspensions have been resolved and the certificates restored.
For another 17 people, IRCC sent procedural fairness letters. Those applicants were given 60 days to provide documents proving their Canadian ancestry.
If they cannot provide acceptable evidence, their citizenship certificates could be revoked.
That possibility worries archivists. Some applicants may now have to return to archives to find additional records.
MPs demand answers
The issue has also reached Parliament.
New Democratic Party immigration critic Jenny Kwan says her office has received letters and questions from people affected by the certificate suspensions.
She has written to Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab seeking answers.
For now, IRCC says it is watching application levels and adjusting its operations as needed.
The department also says it has not changed its document requirements. However, it has made guidance clearer on its website and through other public information.
Still, the numbers tell a striking story.
Canada’s expanded citizenship rules have opened a new path for thousands of people with Canadian family ties. Meanwhile, the rush to prove those ties is putting heavy pressure on both the federal immigration system and the country’s archives.
And with more than 121,800 applications now in the queue, the citizenship boom may be far from over.
