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LILLEY: Will Beyoncé, Timothée Chalamet and Donald Trump vote in Canadian elections?

Canada's changes to citizenship laws opens up our country to millions around the world, including American celebrities with Canadian roots

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Thanks to a new law that is drawing attention south of the border, we could see many American celebrities voting in our elections in the future.

LILLEY: Will Beyoncé, Timothée Chalamet and Donald Trump vote in Canadian elections? Back to video

Bill C-3 passed into law last December and changed how citizenship is passed on for the children of Canadian citizens born abroad.

Now, instead of citizenship only passing down one generation after a family leaves Canada, it can pass down several generations. And the way the law is being interpreted is that people whose families haven’t lived in Canada in generations could claim citizenship.

It’s always been the case that someone like Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, could claim citizenship because of parental connections. Jenner’s father was from New Brunswick.

Someone like actor Timothée Chalamet could have made a claim because his grandmother was from Brantford, Ont.

Citizenship laws changed several times over the years

Over the years, however, the laws have changed several times on who qualifies for Canadian citizenship and how far down the lineage line that citizenship can pass.

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In 2006, during the war between Israel and Hezbollah, the Harper government evacuated 15,000 Canadian citizens at great expense to the taxpayer. Almost immediately after the fighting stopped the entire 15,000 were back in Lebanon where they lived full-time.

That prompted a backlash against Canadians of convenience, people who hold citizenship and keep a Canadian passport neatly tucked away somewhere in case of trouble.

In 2007, the Harper government began the process of restricting citizenship from being passed down more than one generation after a family had left Canada. It was a sensible move, and I say that as someone who could claim, but never has, citizenship in other countries due to ancestral birthright.

At a certain point, you need to cut this off. You can’t have citizenship passed on in perpetuity in families that have left Canada and have no connection to this country any longer.

That’s not how everyone feels though.

In December 2023, Justice Jasmine Akbarali, a Trudeau government appointee and former vice president of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, ruled that the cut off on passing on citizenship was unconstitutional. She claimed cutting off the ability to pass on citizenship violated sections 6 and 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Section 6 states that every Canadian “has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada” while section 15 states that everyone is equal before the law. None of that states in any way shape or form that you can leave Canada and pass along citizenship in perpetuity.

Fundamentally cheapened Canadian citizenship

The Trudeau government chose not to challenge the ruling, which was made at the Superior Court of Justice level and could have been appealed more than once. Trudeau’s team didn’t appeal because they agreed with a decision that fundamentally cheapens Canadian citizenship.

Now, according to the Associated Press stateside, people across the United States are looking into ancestral claims.

“Potentially millions of Americans suddenly have a much easier path to Canadian citizenship, prompting a rush of people to explore their ancestry and file paperwork seeking dual citizenship,” AP wrote in a story published Thursday.

Other reports have said celebrities like Beyoncé could claim Canadian citizenship thanks to a connection via her great-granddaughter six times removed, Joseph Broussard, an Acadian hero.

We could see American celebrities from Shirley MacLaine to Amy Poehler, Paula Abdul to Donald Trump claiming Canadian ancestry. While reports say Trump’s grandfather, Friedrich Trump, never became a Canadian citizen, neither did Beyoncé’s ancestors, because it didn’t exist back then.

The bottom line with Bill C-3 – an ill-thought-out piece of legislation that responded to a court decision that should have been appealed – we don’t know that will happen next.

Just rest assured that there will be more people getting their Canadian citizenship and whether that is Beyoncé or Donald Trump, someone will be upset.

blilley@postmedia.com

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