Citizenship through my grandfather..

[Woodvale]

Hello

Hoping for some general guidance before I submit an application...have Googled just about everything to find some answers, tried to understand the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947 and have also tried the 'Am I a Canadian Citizen' tool but still not sure if I should I should go ahead...

The Act text I found from Wikipedia seems to suggest the following:

'Canadian citizenship was generally conferred immediately on the following persons:
a person other than a natural-born Canadian citizen:

• who was granted, or whose name was included in, a certificate of naturalization under any act of the Parliament of Canada and had not become an alien at the commencement of the Act, or
• who was a British subject who had acquired Canadian domicile (i.e., five years' residence in Canada as a landed immigrant) before 1947'

My grandparents emigrated from England to Montreal on 9/11/1912 (found their passenger info). My grandfather enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1915 and served until his discharge in 1919 when he was shipped back as an invalid to England. My mother was born in England and so was I, in 1960.

Does his military service with the CEF count towards the time he was 'resident' in Canada?

Anyone able to help? Thanks ever so

 

[hawk39]

Under the 1946 Citizenship Act, Section 2(j) defines "domicile" as "the place in which a person has his home or in which he resides and to which he returns as his place of permanent abode and does not mean the place where he resides for a mere special or temporary purpose"; and Section 2(k) after 2(j) defines "Canadian domicile" as "such domicile maintained in Canada for at least five years". The Wikipedia text you quoted pertaining to domicile is from Section 9(1)(b) which says "immediately before the commencement of this Act was a British subject who had Canadian domicile", meaning that the person had to have made Canada his/her permanent home for at least five years by the time the Act was put into effect in 1947.

So under these definitions, I don't think your grandfather met the criteria for having Canadian domicile before the commencement of the 1946 Act and did not acquire Canadian citizenship.

I might be wrong though. There's no harm in submitting your application since you did the work already. Good luck.

 

[Woodvale]

Thanks so much for your speedy reply...I think you are probably right. I guess if he hadn't enlisted he would have made it his home for that time, but as he was overseas I just wondered if it became 'Crown Service' and might have still made him eligible. Worth the question, thanks for your help and the link to the original Act

 

[Janjoun]

You are most probably not a canadian citizen given the following assumptions:
- You were born in 1960.
- Your mother was married at the time of your birth.
-your father has no claim for Canadian citizenship independently of your mother.


It actually doesn't matter if your grandfather qualifies to be a Canadian citizen or not, because before 1977, only children born out of Canada to a Canadian mother out of wedlock would have became citizens at birth.

 

[hawk39]

It actually doesn't matter if your grandfather qualifies to be a Canadian citizen or not, because before 1977, only children born out of Canada to a Canadian mother out of wedlock would have became citizens at birth.

I does matter because if the OP's grandfather did acquire Canadian citizenship, then the OP's mother would have gotten citizenship by descent when the 1946 Act was enforced as well. It is true that the OP's mother would not have been able to pass down citizenship to the OP when he/she was born in 1960; but with the 1977 Citizenship Act, Section 5(2)(b) allowed children born from Canadian mothers before 1977 to apply for a special grant of citizenship. So if the OP's grandfather did acquire citizenship, this would have been the OP's way of getting Canadian citizenship until 2009 when the first generation limit was imposed.

 

[Woodvale]

Thanks everyone...I guess unless I can discover whether my grandfather's military service counted, the citizenship question is academic...but I do appreciate that you folks have taken the time to reply

 

[Janjoun]

Thanks everyone...I guess unless I can discover whether my grandfather's military service counted, the citizenship question is academic...but I do appreciate that you folks have taken the time to reply

Sorry that the discussion turned up only academic.
While Hawk39 post is totally true, it would have been relevant had you tried to apply for citizenship 10 years ago. Much less so today.

As for whether the military service counts or not, this would have been answered best by the IRCC and would be evaluated on a case by case basis. Of course, to even consider the claim, the ircc would need to have a document showing your grandfather landed in Canada as immigrant as per an old citizenship policy manual of CIC.
(immigration document or British passport used to
originally enter Canada if it includes original
entry/admission stamp).

If you were eligible for citizenship by descent from your mother, and was in possession of any of the above two documents, I would have advised you to apply for proof of citizenship. You would only loose around 75 Cad and would have a definitive answer.