OTTAWA — Canada’s immigration department is scrambling to address growing confusion and outrage after demanding that “a few dozen” newly minted citizens surrender their citizenship certificates, just months after receiving them under the country’s new citizenship by descent law.
The recall has left several families in limbo, including Colorado-based health psychologist Bridget Burnett. Burnett, who proved her direct lineage to a Canadian ancestor, has already sold her home in the U.S. and purchased property in Victoria, B.C., with her family’s moving date set for June 24.
“I called IRCC first thing Monday morning and it was very clear that the worker… had no idea what was going on,” Burnett said. “They really just didn’t know if it was an error with the physical certificate, something in my file, or a system error.”
Under the new law—which took effect on Dec. 15, 2025—individuals born before that date can claim Canadian citizenship if they can prove a generation-by-generation direct lineage to a Canadian citizen. However, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) recently issued letters ordering some recipients to return their certificates, stating they failed to provide primary source documents or adequate proof of attempts to obtain them.
Immigration Minister Lena Diab defended the stringency of the process, stating during a parliamentary question period that claimants must provide “verified, authenticated” documents, adding that “genealogy websites are not enough.”
Following the backlash, IRCC quietly updated its online guidance on Wednesday, specifying that documents must come from original authorities, such as provincial archives. If a birth certificate is unavailable, the department will accept alternative historic proofs like census records or certified baptismal certificates.
The abrupt changes and strict document requirements have triggered a massive bottleneck at regional record repositories. The Archives of Ontario reported a massive surge in record requests, receiving nearly 1,200 inquiries in May 2026 compared to just 165 in May 2025.
Data shows that while nearly 4,100 people have successfully obtained citizenship under the new descent law, roughly 82,000 applicants are currently stuck in the backlog waiting for a decision.
Immigration lawyers have heavily criticized Ottawa’s handling of the situation. Lisa Middlemiss, a Montreal-based citizenship lawyer, called the sudden recall “unacceptable” and suggested the sudden tightening of rules might be an attempt to manage the overwhelming volume of applications. “This is just a syndrome of what is happening at IRCC, in a sense, a disconnect with people’s actual lives,” Middlemiss noted.
While IRCC maintains that it is reviewing the situation “as quickly as possible” and will allow affected individuals to submit further documentary evidence, families like Burnett’s face immense anxiety with cross-border moves just days away and no clear answers on their legal status.
